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Apr 13 2012 - 2:46pm
The Titanic's sinking around 100 years ago created a new underwater habitat for organisms: the wreck itself. One of these is a species of bacteria -- named Halomonas titanicae after the great ship -- that lives inside icicle-like growths of rust, called "rusticles." These bacteria eat iron in the...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Phoenix is seen skim feeding off the coast of Maine in August 2004. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 31 2013 - 10:11am
This bait ball shows how small fish can react when larger predators are near by gathering tightly together in a ball-like formation that exposes the least number of fish. Fish species found in the open ocean are especially in need of some protection, as they don't have the cracks and crevices that...
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Dec 13 2012 - 11:02am
As we dive deeper into winter in the northern hemisphere, the possibility of snow becomes an increasingly frequent topic of conversation. But did you know that the ocean gets a regular dose of ‘marine snow’ year round? The flakes in the ocean are made up of poop from animals, decaying animals and...
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Nov 9 2012 - 4:44pm
One of the first signs of a sick coral reef is seaweed creeping across the corals, stealing their precious sunny real estate. Healthy corals, however, aren't completely hopeless: in some reefs, small fishes, such as this broad-barred goby (Gobiodon histrio), help eat the seaweeds away....
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May 20 2012 - 1:03pm
A mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) holds her clutch of eggs in her clubbed claws. Usually these claws are weapons that punch hard-shelled prey at speeds of more than 50 miles an hour.
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May 18 2012 - 4:43pm
Smithsonian Marine Science Network Postdoctoral Fellow, Seabird McKeon, returns from the Smithsonian field site in Belize. Together with Dan Barshis of Stanford University, Seabird reports on the seemingly invisible inhabitants of drifting sargassum seaweeds. As with many parts of the ocean, a ball...
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Feb 1 2013 - 11:16am
A beroid ctenophore lunges toward prey with its mouth wide open. Beroid comb jellies don't have tentacles to catch prey: instead, they can open their mouths and snap them shut tight to trap prey inside. And one of their main prey items is other jellies—one species (Beroe cucumis) feeds exclusively...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Recent Antarctic expeditions have documented climate-induced changes to emperor penguin habitats and impacts on how the penguins feed, breed, and raise their young.
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Jul 25 2012 - 3:10pm
A veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) briefly leaves its hiding spot, a seafloor shell, to devour a crab.
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Jan 8 2013 - 12:06pm
I have a vivid childhood memory of sitting under the Blue Whale model hanging in the Natural History Museum in London, eating an ice cream and wondering “How in the world did that whale get so big?” These days we are closer to knowing the answer. Over the past several years, a group of researchers...
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Jan 17 2013 - 12:23pm
Snow on land can make some people grumpy, but the magical-looking flakes and a beautiful layer on the trees can turn even disenchanted adults into gleeful children again. But what is the ocean equivalent of a snowy night?
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This magnified photo provides a close-up look at copepods—tiny crustaceans that right whales feed on. There are many species of copepods that live throughout the water column, from floating at the surface to buried at the bottom of the sea. They are very small so right whales need to eat a lot of...
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Dec 23 2010 - 2:33pm
“This humpback uses its lower jaw to strain fish off the water’s surface as sea birds snatch their own meals right out of the whale’s open mouth.” -- Nature's Best photographer, Bryce Flynn.
See more beautiful ocean photos in our slideshow of winners from the 2010 Nature's Best Ocean Views photo...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The fringed baleen plates are easy to observe as this North Atlantic right whale skims the water’s surface while it feeds. Many baleen whales suck in as much water was possible, and then push it out through their baleen to sieve out any krill. Right whales, however, skim the water's surface. More...
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May 10 2013 - 2:47pm
Laysan albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis) are incredible birds. They have a wingspan of more than 6 feet, soaring vast distances without flapping their wings.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This may look like a mane of hair, but it’s actually baleen from a North Atlantic Right Whale. Although it looks soft and furry, dried baleen is quite stiff, which made it useful for creating structure in a number of consumer products, including whips and umbrellas. Discover more about this species...
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Jul 18 2012 - 10:45am
It's hard to imagine a 2000-pound animal launching itself out of the water while hunting, but the great white shark does just that. This spectacular behavior is called breaching, and great white sharks breach in order to catch fast-moving prey like seals.
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Feb 7 2013 - 12:01pm
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) are the most abundant baleen whale in the nearshore waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. They, along with millions of penguins, seals, seabirds, and other whales, feed primarily on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) during summer months.
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Jul 19 2012 - 9:14am
A huge colony of brittlestars (likely Ophiacantha rosea) covers the peak of a seamount in the deep ocean. What’s the attraction? Food! Their arms reach out for tiny food particles carried by the swift Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
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Oct 22 2012 - 9:01am
A diet of algae and seagrasses gives this turtle (Chelonia mydas) greenish colored fat—and its name. Weighing as much as 500 pounds, the threatened green sea turtle lives its life at sea, with only females coming to shore to lay eggs. See a slideshow with more pictures of beautiful but threatened...
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Sep 20 2012 - 11:45am
Sperm whales have conical teeth on their long, narrow, lower jaw. The teeth fit neatly into sockets in the upper jaw, which has no teeth. This arrangement is a perfect adaptation for slurping up soft-bodied squids—giant or otherwise. The sperm whale is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN's Red List of...
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Sep 12 2010 - 3:38pm
"Open Wide" spread from Citizens of the Sea by Nancy Knowlton.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
As it clings to a red sea fan, a feather star (Cenometra bella) gently waves its slender arms—filtering bits of food from the water. Also known as sea lilies, feather stars are related to sea stars. Learn more about life on coral reefs in the Coral Reefs section.
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