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Oct 15 2012 - 1:44pm
Welcome to Moorea, a tiny, isolated island in the middle of the vast Pacific. Moorea is 132 square kilometers (51 square miles) of tropical ecosystems – from jungle and wetlands to beaches and coral reefs – with no major landmasses for thousands of miles. While it may look like the perfect vacation...
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Oct 3 2010 - 7:14pm
What is this bizarre, spiky-looking organism? Hint: it can be found in tropical areas of the Pacific and Indian ocean basins crawling slowly over coral reefs and devouring any living coral polyps that it encounters. “Outbreaks” of this organism can devastate entire reef systems. Click here to...
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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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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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Apr 21 2010 - 11:28am
Scientists journey to the isolated island of Moorea on a quest to catalog every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers—from mountaintop to seafloor. Get up close and personal with researchers in the field and see how they combine high-tech equipment and old-fashioned elbow grease to tackle...
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Dec 20 2012 - 10:40am
The festive Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus) lives on tropical coral reefs and resembles a fluffy fir tree adorned with ornaments. The multi-functional branch-like appendages are used by the worm to breathe and to catch meals of plankton floating by. See more holiday-themed animals!
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Feb 27 2013 - 9:38pm
Around 100 million years ago, grass from land adapted to live and reproduce while submerged in seawater—the modern-day seagrasses. This sea invasion by land plants happened four separate times, resulting in four unrelated families of 50-60 total seagrass species, which can be found on the coast of...
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Apr 17 2013 - 2:09pm
We began this journey three months ago, a team of scientists and filmmakers traveling the East African coastline by boat to document and research the status of coral reefs from South Africa to Kenya. We have observed a lot of changes in the coral reef communities as we travel north. Some of these...
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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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Nov 30 2012 - 10:24am
This guineafowl moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) is one of about 200 species of moray eels found in tropical and subtropical coral reefs. Moray eels are a type of bony fish. Many species, like this one with a brown body and white spots similar to a guineafowl, are named after their distinct...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This slug caterpillar (Acharia horrida) turns into a very plain brown moth with stinging spines that are very nasty to rub up against. Although the slug caterpillar family occurs worldwide, this species is found only in the tropics. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
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Apr 6 2011 - 3:18pm
A rainbow of tropical fish hovers over a coral head near the Pearl and Hermes Atoll, part of the Papahānaumokuākea World Heritage Site.
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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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Feb 12 2013 - 9:58am
It's a pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti), found in Indonesia's biodiverse Coral Triangle and one of the smallest seahorse species in the world! They can change colors like a chameleon to blend into their environment. This helps to protect them from predators and ambush their prey. Read ten...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The island of Moorea is a natural laboratory for scientists on a quest to catalog every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers. Head out into the field and watch as researchers use cutting-edge DNA technology and old-fashioned elbow grease in a giant scavenger hunt that will help us...
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Nov 24 2009 - 5:29pm
Researchers in Moorea use a variety of tools to collect organisms. Some are simple, everyday items like buckets and brushes, and some are…a little stranger. Here, two researchers use a “yabbie pump” to slurp up tiny shrimp that live in gobies’ burrows.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Tropical coral reefs—found in warm, clear, shallow waters—support a rich diversity of marine life, such as these sea bass in the Red Sea. Learn more in the Ocean Portal's Coral Reefs section.
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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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Oct 13 2011 - 1:15pm
Lying in water only a foot deep, I watched the shark meander lazily through the mangrove, already exuding the confidence inherent of the supreme creature within its domain. It was hot here in Bimini, nearly 100-degrees and mosquitoes were thick and relentless, swarming on to any bare skin. Yet...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Shallow water coral reefs straddle the equator worldwide. The shallow coral reefs found in U.S. territorial waters are highlighted in purple in this map. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.
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Mar 26 2013 - 9:40am
Tectitethya crypta (formerly known as Cryptotheca crypta) is a large, shallow-water sponge found in the Caribbean. It was first studied for medical purposes in the 1950s when few scientists or doctors thought to look for medicines in the ocean. But in the sponge, scientists isolated two chemicals--...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A scuba diver explores elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) growing on a tropical reef. Coral reefs provide recreation and inspiration for millions of people every year. Elkhorn coral is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.
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Nov 15 2012 - 10:58am
The feathery strands at the back of this nudibranch’s (Chromodoris willani) body are no mere adornment: they’re its gills!
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Jul 12 2011 - 1:00pm
Watch a recorded webcast about the latest efforts in Greece to study and save the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal.
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