Help us Design an Exhibit for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

4512 VOTES AND COUNTING

The votes are in! We asked you to choose your favorite photo to represent a 'vanishing world’ in the Brian Skerry exhibit opening at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in summer 2013 called Portraits of Planet Ocean. We received more than four thousand votes and the top five contenders will be displayed. Check them out below.

Beluga Whale
Beluga whales are likely to suffer as a warming climate causes Arctic ice to retreat.
553 votes
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Yellowfin Surgeonfish
Only two percent of the world’s ocean is protected, but populations of yellowfin surgeonfish and other marine species can recover from overfishing in marine protected areas.
169 votes
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Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
Endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna are caught in the wild and fattened in pens for harvest—usually with unsustainable methods.
124 votes
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Harp Seal
Harp seals depend on seasonal ice during the breeding season. Their populations may suffer as climate change leads to decreasing ice cover.
1204 votes
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Shelled Pteropods
Changes in ocean chemistry destroy the shelled pteropods that this “naked sea butterfly” eats, in turn affecting predators like fish and squid that depend on the sea butterfly for food.
419 votes
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Phoenix Islands
Unlike most coral reefs, those of the Phoenix Islands are protected from pollution and overfishing, which allows them to recover from severe bleaching.
190 votes
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Fur Seal
Warming climate, changing ocean chemistry, and overfishing threaten kelp forests and the many species that depend on them.
297 votes
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Hermit Crab
This small hermit crab lives in the coral reef, which is threatened by changes to the ocean’s temperature and chemistry.
138 votes
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Great Hammerhead Shark
Hammerhead sharks are endangered by overfishing - often just for their large fins. They are also caught accidentally by fishing gear set out to catch other species.
363 votes
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Leatherback Turtles
Leatherback turtles are critically endangered - threatened both at sea and on land where females come to lay their eggs.
374 votes
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Florida Manatees
Florida manatees lose habitat to humans and are injured or killed in collisions with boats, entrapment in canal locks, and entanglement in fishing gear.
681 votes
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