Exploration

LATEST TODAY'S CATCH

Searching for Crustaceans in the Deep Sea

Searching for Crustaceans in the Deep Sea

May 16, 2013 - 9:04AMIn this video Smithsonian research zoologist Dr. Martha Nizinski takes viewers with her as she searches for crustaceans in the deep sea. She's particularly interested in finding squat lobsters, which despite their name, are...
Feb 28, 2013 - 10:18AM
How many animals swim in the sea? It's not easy to count them all. To get a...
Jan 29, 2013 - 11:19AM
Cooks Bay in Moorea is one of the places that researchers are scouring in...

SPOTLIGHT

Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

In the spring of 2011, a research crew from Oceana spent two months in the brackish Baltic Sea. The Baltic faces...
The Baltic Sea faces challenges from pollution, algae blooms, over fishing, and invasive species.
Jul 27 2011 - 12:11pm
Dr. Peter Auster gets ready for a dive to study the ecology of fish predators at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Georgia.
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This radio device is used to track North Atlantic right whales. Suction cups hold the device to a whale's back, where it records data such as depth, water, temperature, and underwater sounds. Read more about right whales and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Ocean Portal's 'A...
Jul 13 2012 - 1:01pm
Imagine: You’re in a small submersible, and you gently settle on the soft muddy bottom at a depth of 12,000 feet. It’s absolutely dark. What will you see when the exterior lights are turned on? Will you discover underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents, as some astonished geologists did back in...
May 10 2010 - 6:22pm
Students in Monterey Bay share a microscope to get a closer look at plankton samples from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
Jul 2 2012 - 3:24pm
Ships are well-known for their tiny rooms and tight quarters. But have you heard of a sea vessel that has toilets and sinks sticking out of the walls, and staircases and doors on the ceiling? This unique research vessel is real -- and, in June 2012, the Office of Naval Research and Scripps...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Fargo, the dog pictured here, is not just having a nice day at sea. He is helping researchers at the New England Aquarium in Boston detect scat (or poop) from North Atlantic right whales. The dogs find about four times more whale poop with their scent detection than the researchers would using...
May 22 2010 - 11:30am
Two divers, one in an atmospheric dive suit (left) and the other in standard dive gear (right), prepare to explore the Lusitania shipwreck in 1935. Over the decades, diving gear has evolved and changed, and its role in marine research has expanded. Scuba and other forms of diving have allowed...
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.
Jul 27 2011 - 11:15am
Inside the control van for the remotely operated vehicle Jason, Dr. Brendan Roark and colleagues watch the ROV collecting deep-sea coral specimens. This NOAA expedition took place in November 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Florida. Learn more about deep-sea corals in the ...
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.
North Atlantic right whale
Dec 22 2009 - 3:14pm
Hear how research unfolds at sea in a tiny Zodiac surrounded by creatures that measure longer than a city bus. Playing female whale calls into the water, researcher Susan Parks suddenly finds herself the center of attention of a group of male North Atlantic right whales. Will she be able to gather...
May 12 2011 - 7:43am
Woods Hole scientists operate an ROV to sample the oil spewing from the ruptured Macondo Well.  After the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) administrators and investigators were among those...
Jul 27 2011 - 11:25am
Deep-sea coral beds are true biodiversity hotspots. It’s urgent that we study these extreme environments because we know so little about them, because they are important communities for so many deep-sea creatures, and because they are so susceptible to human activities.
Jul 27 2010 - 6:04pm
Charles Darwin: Almost 150 years after Dampier visited the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin brought Dampier’s books with him on his famous voyage to South America on The Beagle—the journey that led to his formulation of the theory of
The Moorea Biocode Project
Nov 11 2009 - 5:48pm
Scientists on the tiny island of Moorea, in the Pacific, are gathering one of every life form large enough to pick up with tweezers. They're on a quest to build a detailed catalog of the entire ecosystem. Learn more about the island and the research being done there in our Casting a Wide Net...
Jun 6 2012 - 12:08pm
Students working on a marine genetics project at the Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center in 2011.