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Oct 9 2012 - 9:17am
In the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, what is the effect of oil on invertebrates like jellyfish, clams, crabs, sea stars, and plankton? The scope of the damage is more easily observed among birds and large animals, but Dr. Chris Mah, an invertebrate zoologist at Smithsonian's National Museum...
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Sep 1 2011 - 9:35am
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.
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Jul 12 2012 - 11:12am
Many sperm whales stranded on beaches or caught by whalers exhibit telltale circular scars like these. Only one thing could have made them: the strong suckers that line the giant squid’s eight arms and two long feeding tentacles. Older sperm whales have so many scars that they overlap each other....
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Smithsonian Zoologist Dr. Clyde Roper, the world's foremost authority on giant squid, explores the squid collection at the National Museum of Natural History. He is passionate about giant squid and has traveled the world studying dead specimens on beaches and in museums and searching for living...
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Mar 26 2010 - 1:09pm
Brian Huber studies fossil organisms known as “forams” to learn about climate change in this video snippet from the Smithsonian Marine Collections video.
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Sep 30 2011 - 6:38am
Smithsonian curator of fossil marine mammals Nick Pyenson and a team of collaborators are heading into Chile's Atacama Desert, shown here. They'll study a rich bonebed of fossil marine vertebrates that lived off the Chilean coast around 8 million years ago.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Candy Feller is framed by the roots of a mangrove tree on Panama’s Pacific coast. Mangrove trees grow particularly large in this area. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Clyde Roper (top left), of the Smithsonian Institution, and scientists from NOAA and the Delaware Museum of Natural History dissect a giant squid specimen donated by NOAA. Everything we know about the biology of giant squid comes from dissecting and studying dead specimens.
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Jun 20 2012 - 9:22am
We have arrived as the advanced scouting party to the scene of this year's field work location: Pemuteran, a small fishing village in northwest Bali. More importantly, we are sitting squarely at the heart of marine biodiversity at the "Coral Triangle" -- that small part of the globe where, if space...
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Jul 11 2011 - 6:42pm
Building the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall--like any major exhibition--was a major undertaking. Over the course of five years, it required hundreds of people with a vast array of skills and backgrounds. Many of these people worked on one aspect of the exhibit, such as the whale model, the...
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Mar 12 2013 - 2:40pm
With 1,400 named species of ribbon worms inhabiting every ecosystem on earth, seeking one out should be an easy proposition. But I quickly learned that it can be quite daunting when you’re looking for certain teeny-tiny mud-loving worms. I recently accompanied Dr. Jon Norenburg and postdoctoral...
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Sep 1 2011 - 11:27am
If you want to study invasive species in the ocean, the Panama Canal offers a lot to explore. The ships passing through can inadvertently transport plants, animals, and even parasites from the Atlantic into the Pacific, or the reverse direction. Some species stow away in ballast tanks, others cling...
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May 7 2012 - 3:54pm
Nick Pyenson, the curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, points to the skull and skeleton of a fossil "toothed" mysticete (baleen whale) on the West Coast Trail of Vancouver Island in 2009. The skeleton, which is being excavated this spring 2012 by...
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Jul 5 2011 - 1:19pm
Dr. Carole Baldwin, a research zoologist and fish expert with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, gives viewers an inside-look at the Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). She and her colleagues are trying to understand the biodiversity in coral reefs near Curaçao, an island in...
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Jun 4 2012 - 1:44pm
It’s not everyday that I get to collect and gather data right alongside our Museum’s researchers. So, imagine my recent delight when the opportunity was presented to me to travel half way around the world to Bali, Indonesia to participate in a research and education field project.
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Jun 7 2011 - 1:15pm
Smithsonian zoologist Dr. Steve Cairns named and described this deep-sea coral species, Stephanocyathus paliferus, which is now preserved in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History. The specimens will contribute to future research about deep sea corals. Collection cards record...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Clyde Roper prepares to dive thousands of feet to a giant squid habitat off the coast of New Zealand in a one-person submersible.
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Oct 23 2010 - 5:15pm
CREDIT: Chris Kenaley
The Mystery Develops
Flash forward to 1956, when scientists described another new kind of fish. It was named the tapetail because of its long, streamer-like tail. It also had a large upturned mouth.
Unlike the whalefish, the tapetail was found living near the ocean’s...
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Jan 30 2013 - 10:21am
The Palauan primitive cave eel (Protanguilla palau) has an evolutionary history that dates back some 200 million years. Because of this and the fact that it has retained some primitive features, scientists are recognizing it as a 'living fossil.'
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Aug 13 2012 - 9:30am
During the 2012 field season of the Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) in Curaçao, Smithsonian scientists collected many specimens with the help of the Curasub. Prospective new species were caught on almost every dive as the scientists explored the biodiversity of the mid- and deep-sea...
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Jun 23 2010 - 11:22am
On April 27, 1986, an estimated 50,000 barrels of medium-weight crude oil drained from a ruptured storage tank at a refinery in Panama, polluting the coast and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Galeta Marine Laboratory, located at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. For 15 years...
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Aug 14 2012 - 12:55pm
It’s an honor to have something or someone named after you. Dr. David Pawson, Senior Research Scientist and Curator of Echinoderms at NMNH, has several genera and species, living and fossil, named after him. He says this little sea star, Pawsonaster parvus, is by far the prettiest!
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May 11 2011 - 12:13pm
Sea stars are important members of marine ecosystems, especially in the tropics. We may think of tropical coral reefs as being home mainly to fish and corals, but in fact these habitats are home to a huge diversity of ecologically important invertebrates.
Sometimes, human influences can throw off...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Researcher Aimee Ellison tests samples for DNA barcoding at the Gump Field Station on Moorea.
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