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  • Reef Sharks Repelled by People

    Reef sharks rarely get any love. These sharks, comprising several species, loiter around coral reefs, snacking on small fish, squids and crustaceans. And while their size is nothing to smirk at -- 5-10 feet is pretty impressive in my book!

  • Amazing Ocean: Explore from Your Mobile Device

    Amazing Ocean is a brand new, free mobile app developed by the U.S. Department of State that features Smithsonian Ocean Portal and Sant Ocean Hall content. The app allows users to explore photos, videos, and rich ocean-themed content on their mobile devices.

  • The Discovery of Multispecies Communities of Seacows

    Sirenians, or seacows, are a group of marine mammals that include manatees and dugongs. In the modern ocean, only one species of seacow is found in each world region, however, the fossil record tells a different story. According to the fossil record of these marine mammals, which dates back 50 million years ago, it was more common to find three, maybe more, different species living together at one time. This oddity hinted that seacows’ environment and food sources were different than what we see today.

  • Alaska Vulnerable to Invasive Species from Warmer Waters

    Alaska’s pristine coastline is ripe for an influx of invasive marine species such as the European green crab and the rough periwinkle (an Atlantic sea snail), warns a new study by a team of scientists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

  • Scientists Call New Eel Species A Living Fossil

    Scientists at the Smithsonian and partnering organizations have discovered a remarkably primitive eel in a fringing reef off the coast of the Republic of Palau. This fish exhibits many primitive anatomical features unknown in the other 19 families and more than 800 species of living eels, resulting in its classification as a new species belonging to a new genus and family.

  • Tunas and Marlins Officially Classified as Threatened

    Extinction is a real possibility for three species of tunas. That’s one of the messages from a new study released today online in the
    journal Science. 

  • A Tale of Sex and Stress in the Ocean

    Welcome to Citizens of the Sea, a new blog series where ocean life comes to life. Our book by the same name came out in September, but no sooner had it gone off to the printer than new ocean stories started streaming in. So every other week, we’ll use this series to explore some interesting aspect of marine life forms and their weird and wonderful ways of getting by.

  • The Ingredients for a Hurricane

    I became interested in weather phenomena when I took physics in high school. At the time, I just wanted to understand how various things in nature worked. Unfortunately, most information about weather and hurricanes, whether in textbooks or on television, is merely descriptive: this is the sequence of events that we observe, and they lead to a hurricane. There is usually very little explanation of why it’s happening or the physics behind it.

  • Plastic Trash Plagues the Ocean

    Once upon a time, the ocean was considered the last place where we could still find an undisturbed environment. This was before the plague of man-made plastic trash flooded the seas. During my travels, I have realized that everything has changed. There is scarcely a place on Earth where plastic litter is not present. Standing on the decks of our research ship, miles away from any large urban areas, we have retrieved plastic from the deepest parts of the sea.

  • World Heritage Goes Marine

    Last week, the United Nations’ World Heritage Convention went blue. Two of the largest and healthiest marine protected areas on our planet—the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Kiribati and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii—have now gained World Heritage status. Together, they more than doubled the marine area protected under the World Heritage Convention—now 1.6 million square kilometers (more than 617,000 square miles) or about 0.5 percent of the world’s ocean surface.

  • The Spin on Sharks

    Starting this Sunday, August 1st, the fins will be circling on a television near you. Sunday kicks off The Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” an annual TV ritual that offers hours of programming about sharks—some bloody, some beautiful, some scientific, some sensational.

  • One Step Closer to a Healthier Ocean

    The year 2010 will likely be remembered as a tragic time for the ocean. Yet, despite the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I have hope for our ocean’s future. Last week President Obama signed an Executive Order to implement our nation’s first National Ocean Policy.

  • Helping Kids Help the Ocean

    An 11-year-old in Texas is saddened by the oil spill and begins searching for something she can do to help.

    A 13-year-old in Washington, D.C., convinces her mom to make small changes in their daily routine that make their home more ocean-friendly.

    A 7-year-old spends a part of his Saturday trip to the museum learning about the ocean—and some of the things that are harming it—and decides to donate the two prized nickels he found that morning to help the ocean.

  • Animals and the Oil Spill: What Can You Do?

    Lately we’ve been fielding questions from Smithsonian visitors wondering how they can help with the oil spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. If there is any good news coming out of this situation, it’s that thousands of people across the U.S. care deeply and are finding ways to respond to the oil spill.

  • The Invisible Loss: The Impacts of Oil You Do Not See

    Since late April, the world has watched a devastating oil spill from a BP drilling rig spread throughout the Gulf of Mexico and become one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of the United States.

  • Taking the Ocean Personally

    Last week, we began asking visitors to the Ocean Portal a simple question: “How do you feel about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?"

  • A Watershed Moment for the Ocean

    As the days grow long, school bells fade into distant memories, and families start taking long weekends at the beach, the Ocean Portal Team is preparing for the weeks ahead.

    The way we see it, June 2010 is going to be a significant month for the ocean.

  • A Current Event in the Classroom: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    Sometimes, a tragic event can become a powerful teaching opportunity. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has the potential to capture students’ attention and stimulate discussion on topics like:

    • biology and ecology (How will the oil effect wildlife and the environment?),

    • physics and chemistry (How do water conditions, currents, and weather affect the way the oil disperses? What techniques and materials can we use to clean up this mess?),

  • On Earth Day, Think Blue.

    Earth Day is a fitting occasion to celebrate the Big Blue.

    While our planet may be called “Earth,” 71% of its surface is actually covered by water. This vast ocean makes our planet habitable—for us and all life. It produces half the oxygen we breathe. It moderates climate, absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, furnishes food and jobs to millions of people, and provides countless other services to humankind.

    The ocean does so much for us. On Earth Day, surely we can return the favor. Whatever you’re planning to do today, there are actions you can take to protect the ocean.

  • The Ocean Hits the Big Screen

    It may be called Earth Day, but April 22nd is a perfect day to remind ourselves that we actually live on a planet dominated by water. In fact, with 71% of the earth’s surface covered by water, we might just as well call it Planet Ocean.

    This year, we’ll have a chance to explore the other three quarters of our planet on the big screen with Disney Nature’s release of Oceans, opening on Earth Day in theaters around Canada and the U.S.

  • Climate Change on the Brain

    We’re only two months into 2010, and climate change is shaping up to be one of the year’s big buzz topics. Our friends at NOAA have released a prototype of their new Climate Portal.

  • Finding Little Gems in the Sea

    This month, our friends at National Geographic are featuring Smithsonian's own bio-scavenger, Chris Meyer and his work in one of our favorite places: Moorea, French Polynesia.

  • Resolve to Protect the Ocean

    Happy New Year! We’ve officially hit mid-January, but there is still plenty of time to make those resolutions. If you’ve been putting it off or haven’t come up with a worthy resolution yet, why not resolve to do something to help the ocean? The ocean does so many things for us, surely we can return the favor by making small changes in our daily lives. Drawing a blank? Here are some idea to get started:

  • Welcome to the Ocean Portal Blog!

    If you've found your way here, you've probably already seen the homepage of the Smithsonian Institution's brand new Ocean Portal (or OP, for short). We encourage you to spend some time exploring the OP and let us know what you think.

  • Learning from a Sea of Teachers

    On Friday, the OP Team had another great opportunity to talk face-to-face with some of the people that the Ocean Portal will serve: teachers. More than 4,000 teachers attended Smithsonian Teachers Night, and hundreds stopped by our table in the Sant Ocean Hall to chat with us and learn more about the OP. Teachers, your enthusiasm was infectious! We thought it was interesting how many of you noted the need for great pictures and video, as well as really cool, interesting, and even weird information that can help hook students.

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