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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
How do right whales size up? North Atlantic Right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are big, but they're not the biggest whales. That distinction goes to the Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest animal on Earth. While the Orca, or Killer whale size of up to 31 feet make it the largest dolphin.
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Sep 20 2011 - 4:20pm
The basic body plans of all modern animals were set during the Cambrian Period, 542 - 488 million years ago. Your friends, family, and pet turtle may not look much like the creatures here. But we and our fellow animals are heirs of these ancient ocean dwellers. Changes in Earth’s climate and ocean...
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Jul 13 2010 - 3:33pm
In 1699, accompanied by a shipboard artist, William Dampier conducted the first scientific investigation of the plants and animals of Australia (then known as New Holland). From there he and his crew sailed to New Guinea, where Dampier had his artist draw this bat with a four-foot wingspan and...
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Dec 8 2010 - 1:02pm
This illustration shows how Scarlet Knight, the first unmanned, underwater robot or glider to cross an ocean basin, faced an entire fleet of fishing ships, equipped with nets, threatening the glider’s path across the continental shelf. “Crossing the shelf is like running across the New Jersey...
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Jun 6 2012 - 2:17pm
A sea monster attacks a ship in an illustration for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. The illustration is by publisher and artist Pierre-Jules Hetzel, who is most famous for his drawings in Verne's books.
This terrifying monster looks a lot like an octopus or squid, which do little harm...
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Oct 11 2012 - 9:46am
An adult giant squid struggles for survival in an encounter with a sperm whale - its only known predator. The whale will probably overpower and eat the squid. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid section.
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Aug 9 2012 - 10:27am
Where ocean currents were strong, ancient rudist “recliners” lay unattached on the seabed. Notice the pink tentacles, which were used to filter feed. Learn more about ocean life throughout deep time in our Ocean Over Time interactive or an image gallery.
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Sep 20 2011 - 3:42pm
Earth’s first animals had soft bodies. This illustration shows a community of soft-bodied Ediacaran (edi-A-karan) animals. Some species resemble living ocean creatures. Others are unlike any known organisms and cannot be classified. Scientists have found fossils of these fauna in sedimentary rocks...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This illustration shows one old idea of what the ancient shark Helicoprion might have looked like. There was room for many ideas—some more plausible than others—because the only fossils of the fish were of a strange, spiral-shaped jaw loaded with teeth. Where did it go? In its mouth, on its nose,...
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Mar 8 2012 - 3:49pm
A reconstruction of a new fossil beluga relative, Bohaskaia monodontoides, described by Smithsonian scientists, is in the foreground. Its living relatives, the beluga and narwhal, are illustrated left to right in the background. The coloration of the extinct whale is speculative.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Hundreds of powerful suckers stud the flattened club at the end of the giant squid’s long feeding tentacle. They help the squid capture and hang on tightly to its prey. They also leave deep scars in the skin around the mouths of sperm whales as the squid fight to escape from the whale’s jaws. More...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Like the modern nautilus, this relative of modern squid hunted from inside the safe haven of a protective shell. Ammonites went extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs—65 million years ago. Find more about ocean predators in our interactive timeline Who's on Top?
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Sep 21 2011 - 9:53am
This rendering shows life at the end of the Cretaceous Period, before the impact of a 6.2 mi (10 km) asteroid triggered mass extinctions on land and sea. Dinosaurs are the most famous victims of the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago. But they weren't alone. Nearly half...
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Sep 12 2011 - 11:43am
Offshore Peru, during the Eocene (~56-34 million years ago), showing three archaeocetes (ancient whales), along with a previously described fossil penguin.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
People once thought giant squid (right) were Sea Monks, or mermen (left)—mythical creatures that were part fish-like and part human male. Learn more giant squid facts and legend in the Giant Squid section.
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Dec 4 2009 - 3:25pm
About 100 million years ago, during the heyday of the dinosaurs, reefs were built by mollusks called rudist clams. They looked very different from today's coral reefs.
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Jul 29 2010 - 4:31pm
This slideshow features illustrations of some of the plants and animals that William Dampier, a naturalist and pirate, observed in Australia (then known as New Holland) and New Guinea. Learn more about Dampier in the Ocean Portal article The Pirate Who Collected Plants.
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Dec 8 2010 - 12:54pm
Scientists met the robotic glider Scarlet Knight about halfway along its journey of scientific exploration from the United States to Spain, discovering that barnacles were growing on the glider’s body, as this graphic illustrates. As algae began to grow on the glider’s exterior surface, small sea...
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Dec 4 2009 - 3:21pm
This illustration shows the edge of a warm inland sea during the Cretaceous Period, heyday of the dinosaurs. Constantly shifting sediment supported new groups of organisms, including rudist clams—major molluscan reef builders. Various organisms have taken a turn as the dominant tropical reef...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Like octopods and cuttlefishes, giant squid have eight arms. But they use their two much longer feeding tentacles to seize prey. The tentacles have powerful suckers at the ends. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The giant squid is among the largest invertebrates on Earth, but this deep sea creature has rarely been observed by humans -- alive. Over the centuries, many dead giant squid have washed up on the beach and been found by people, inspiring tales of sea monsters such as the Kraken. This...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
Published in 1882 by Yale Professor A.E. Verrill, this is the first scientific illustration of a giant squid. More about the giant squid can be found in the Giant Squid section.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Squids come in a wide range of sizes, from smaller-than-your-thumb to the enormous giant squid. Giant squid grow up to 16 meters (50 feet). Learn more the life, range, and ecology of the giant squid in the Giant Squid section.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Squids come in a wide range of sizes but despite differences in size and shape, all work basically the same way inside. More about the giant squid can be found in the Giant Squid section.
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