An-Nahl 16:14
The verse frames the sea with three gifts at once: (1) "laḥman ṭariyyan" — fresh meat (fish and sea creatures); (2) "ḥilyatun talbasūnahā" — ornaments to wear (pearl, coral, mother-of-pearl); (3) "al-fulka mawākhir" — ships that cleave the waves.
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى سَخَّرَ ٱلْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
And it is He who made the sea to serve you, that you may eat from it tender meat, and extract from it ornaments that you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, as you seek His bounties, so that you may give thanks
An-Nahl 16:14 · Translation: talal-itani
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Three gifts open three distinct fields of effort: hunting for food, diving for ornament, sailing to reach the distance. The verse offers the sea not as a danger or a boundary but as a widening field of gain. The closing is again "laʿallakum tashkurūn" — the way through this wide field is gratitude.
Observation
The seas are an important source of protein in human nutrition; fish and seafood are an integral part of the global food system. Ornamental materials such as pearl and coral are produced by marine invertebrates through calcium carbonate mineralisation; pearl oysters form these materials through the nacre layers they secrete, and corals through their aragonite skeletal structures.
Exegesis
Classical exegetes note that the three gifts are ordered not alphabetically but by difficulty: al-Rāzī observes that eating fish is the nearest work; pulling out ornament (diving) is harder, and the long journey is the greatest deed of courage — the verse names these three in order. Al-Zamakhsharī stresses that "mawākhir" is used to depict the ships opening the water to either side, the word loading the line with visual motion. Al-Qurṭubī points out that the closing mention of gratitude reminds that the sea's danger and its gift sit on the same ground.
Sources
Tafsīr: al-Rāzī · Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb; al-Zamakhsharī · al-Kashshāf; al-Qurṭubī · al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān.