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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A male mudflat fiddler crab (Uca rapax) waves its huge claw to impress females and threaten male competitors. More about the animals and plants living in mangrove ecosystems can be found in the Mangroves section.
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Mar 31 2011 - 5:29pm
The invasive reed Phragmites australis can create new plants through seeds (shown here) or underground rhizomes. Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have discovered that seeds are the primary method the plants have used to invade Chesapeake Bay wetlands.
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Mar 11 2011 - 4:06pm
Dr. Carole Baldwin never expected to find seven new species of fish among the Starskia blennies she was studying at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "My research team was using barcoding to match larval stages of reef fishes to adults," she said. But when comparing the DNA of...
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Feb 3 2010 - 4:20am
What reef animal comes in a rainbow of crazy colors, can throw out its stomach to immobilize predators, then creep away and regrow a brand-new stomach? It’s the sea cucumber, prized as a gastronomic delight by some cultures and beginning to yield some of its secrets to scientists. Follow Podcast of...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Smithsonian research assistant Anne Chamberlain and Marc Frischer from Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, Georgia, stride through thick mud covered by algal mats in a mangrove pond at Twin Cays, Belize. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
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Aug 16 2012 - 1:45pm
Deploying ARMS (Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures) is tricky in the deep sea, where SCUBA divers can't place and secure them to the floor with their hands and a hammer. Researchers with DROP (Deep Reef Observation Project) had to redesign the methods for deploying and retreiving ARMS, using...
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May 18 2012 - 5:17pm
The sargassum is coated with encrusting organisms, such as bryozoans and hydroids, that use it as a perch to filter feed in the oceanic waters, as well as crustaceans such as the swimming crab Portunus sayi (Portunidae).
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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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Apr 26 2011 - 12:49pm
It blew in for two solid days: a flotilla of plastic forks, soda bottles, rubber gloves, and other refuse. I tried to pick everything up off the beach, but when I turned around, you couldn’t tell that I had cleaned at all. When we went out in the boats, we had to go slowly in order to dodge the...
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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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May 11 2012 - 9:58am
Editor's note: Read Nick's first blog post about "toothed" baleen whales to see what their team is excavating on Vancouver Island.
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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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Jul 14 2011 - 12:30pm
Last week, Smithsonian research zoologists Dr. Jerry Harasewych and Dr. Martha Nizinski were in Curaçao looking for deep-sea marine gastropods and decapod crustaceans, respectively.
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Apr 29 2010 - 6:05pm
Jacques Cousteau once said, “When you dive, you begin to feel like an angel."
It’s true. When a diver dons a tank and slips into the water, the noisy clatter of the world disappears and the sensation of weightlessness takes over. The unrestrained expanse of blue water. The dazzling rainbow of...
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Jan 22 2013 - 6:59am
I have been at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since 1966, studying and reporting on all kinds of octopuses and squids. But I’ve always had a particular fascination with the mysterious and elusive giant squid. My interest in giant squid began in graduate school when my...
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Oct 23 2010 - 5:27pm
This deep sea creature, the whalefish (Cetomimidae), has a whale-like body, a gaping mouth, no fins or scales and a deep lateral line, which detects vibrations in the water. The first specimens were discovered by two Smithsonian scientists in fish collections at the National Museum of Natural...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The sun sets over the Smithsonian’s Marine Field Station at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize.
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Mar 31 2011 - 3:53pm
An invasive strain of the plant Phragmites australis dominates this Chesapeake Bay wetland. The plant can easily grow up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall and alter coastal ecosystems. Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center are trying to figure out the biological mechanisms driving...
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Jan 27 2010 - 2:57pm
In Fort Pierce, Florida, researchers at the Smithsonian Marine Station focus on mangroves and other marine ecosystems of Florida. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
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Sep 27 2012 - 9:45am
A mangrove tree crab (Aratus pisonii) clings to a leaf near the Smithsonian Institution’s marine laboratory on Galeta Island, Panama, part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
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May 21 2012 - 1:23pm
After a few long days of hard work on the island, we were finally able to excavate and remove, not just one, but two skeletons of an early "toothed" baleen whale from the rocks near the Carmanah Lighthouse. All told, it took our team 3 days, along with assistance from Parks Canada, a chartered...
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May 30 2012 - 11:45am
Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells. They are picky home owners and they will trade shells with other crabs to get a better fit or a less damaged shell. This specimen shows the crab...
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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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Aug 10 2012 - 9:41am
A behind the scenes look at the NMNH ocean-related collections and their importance to research and discovery.
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