The difference between marine and automotive filters is in the flow levels.
The motor still doesnt know its in a boat or a truck. and other than the marketing gimic, there are about 22 different filters per manufacturer that fit the GM small block ranging in diameter of just under 3" and a length of under 3" to a diameter over 4.5" and a length of about 12" A larger diameter or a larger length will allow more flow than a smaller diameter or smaller length.
the small block oil pump pushes between 1.5 gpm at idle and about 6 GPM at 6000 RPM that is in no means a high flow rate
A big block oil pump pushes about 2.2 GPM at idle and a fully blueprinted high volume BBC oil pump pushes about 2.75GPM at idle and about 10 GPM at 6000 RPM still not a high flow rate
here is the kicker.......then the pump pressure regulator comes into play as well as the oil filter bypass valve(s). the pump pushes oil until the little spring in the pump opens up and then the pump bypasses. this spring is set to some value between 60psi and 90 psi for 99% of the motors. the filter bypass valve opens in the block at a differential value of between 11psi and 30 psi across the filter (depends on application) and then bypasses the oil filter. many oil filters have a bypass valve that opens at about 5-20psi differential across the filter to prevent the filter from imploding and crushing. the actual oil flow that the motor sees is based on the bearing clearances, the pressure relief setting, the block oil filter bypass and the filters bypass valve...... and not the pump output or the size of the filter.
a good running, normal motor will probably only allow oil to flow at about 2 GPM max. a sloppy motor will allow about 3-5 GPM thru the bearings
when it comes to oil filters, there is area of media, the granularity of the filtering media and with or without a bypass valve. the oil filter doesnt know if it is mounted to a motor in a truck, car, marine motor, or a genset or that K&N put a sticker on it that says marine for marketing purposes. it is either a full-flow oil filter or it has a bypass valve. Full flow oil filters generally do not fit engine mounted applications since they are generally much longer and much larger in diameter. bypass valve filters are what is used in 90+% of motor applications. only about 80-90% of the oil that flows to the filter actually gets filtered, the rest is bypassed. same goes for the block mounted bypass valve.
I will be running full flow filters on my motor. they are about 4" in diameter, and about 10" long. there are two of them mounted on my remote filter head.
