Media Gallery: Photos A-Z

  • <p>No two snowflakes are alike. Every snowflake is beautiful in its own way. But this one’s pretty creepy. The snowflake moray eel (<em>Echidna nebulosa</em>)&nbsp;has white, black and yellow splotches all over its body, which come together to look like snowflake designs. <strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv2DkzOPBXw">Moray eels eat their prey</a></strong> in a unique way – with two jaws. The second set of jaws is in their throat, which shoots up and grabs the prey from the main pair of jaws, drawing the prey down to the esophagus.</p>

    Snowflake Moray Eel
    Dec 19 2012 - 10:23am
    No two snowflakes are alike. Every snowflake is beautiful in its own way. But this one’s pretty creepy. The snowflake moray eel (Echidna nebulosa) has white, black and yellow splotches all over...
  • Photo of sockeye salmon spawning.

    Sockeye Salmon, Adams River, British Columbia, Canada
    Jun 21 2011 - 1:58pm
    “Every four years, sockeyes come inland from the Pacific to spawn. The year 2010 was the largest run in 100 years, reaching more than 30 million fish. On this day, I waited for the right sunlight,...
  • <p>A Socotra cormorant dries its wings on the shore at the&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 20px;">Socotra Archipelago in Yemen.</span></p>

    Socotra Archipelago, Yemen
    Nov 5 2010 - 1:11pm
    The Socotra Archipelago site in Yemen was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008. The marine life is diverse and includes 283 species of coral, 730 species of coastal fish, and 300 species of...
  • <p><em>Stephanocyathus (A.) spiniger</em>, a solitary, deep-water stony coral species, has six long spines that slow it from sinking into soft substrates.</p>

    Solitary Deep-water Corals
    Oct 5 2012 - 3:42pm
    These corals from the Smithsonian collections are Stephanocyathus (A.) spiniger, a solitary, deep-water stony coral species. Around 74% of all deep-water corals are solitary, living as...
  • Sound artist Halsey Burgund performs his composition Ocean Voices.

    Sound Artist Halsey Burgund
    Mar 19 2012 - 9:49am
    Halsey Burgund (right) performing Ocean Voices before a live audience at the Museum of Science, Boston, in July 2010. The composition includes excerpts of ocean stories from around the world. Burgund...
  • Students pose in front of an aquarium tank with fish.

    South Carolina Delegation
    Feb 7 2011 - 8:08pm
    What can students do to help the ocean? It turns out, a lot! These South Carolina students are among dozens from across the United States and Mexico who are developing action plans on ocean and...
  • An underwater photo of Southern Bluefin Tuna swimming above a fish farm net.

    Southern Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus maccoyii)
    May 18 2012 - 1:34pm
    Largely due to overfishing, the Southern Bluefin Tuna is listed as "critically endangered." If its population continues to decline, the species faces the possibility of extinction. It's not...
  • “The southern elephant seal is a truly restrained behemoth. Males can grow to be five times larger than females, up to 5,000 pounds. This elephant seal may look fierce, but he was simply yawning over and over in the wave-wash. This allowed me to try multiple ways of getting this impressive pose, including lying down in the water without disturbing him.” -- Nature's Best Photographer, Justin Hofman

    Southern Elephant Seal, Gold Harbour, South Georgia
    Feb 4 2013 - 10:24am
    The largest of all seal species, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is found in chilly Antarctic and Subantarctic waters. The male seals dive as deep as 1,430 meters (over 4,600 feet) and...
  • A few corals are part of this small sampling of the approximately 35 million species represented in the invertebrate zoology collection housed at the National Museum of Natural History.

    Specimens from the Smithsonian Invertebrate Zoology Collection
    Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
    Within the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, scientists conduct original research on all 30 major invertebrate animal groups (phyla) of the world (except insects), and are stewards for the 35...
  • A spectacled caiman patrols a salty pond at a Smithsonian research station in Panama.

    Spectacled Caiman
    Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
    A spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodiles) patrols a salty pond at the Smithsonian Institution’s research station in Bocas del Toro, Panama. A bony ridge between its eyes gives it the appearance of...
  • The Smithsonian Marine Mammal team moves into action after a dead sperm whale is spotted floating off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

    Sperm Whale Post-Mortem
    Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
    The Smithsonian Marine Mammal team moves into action after a dead sperm whale is spotted floating off Cape Hatteras, N.C. Smithsonian marine mammalogist Dr. James Mead is in the water.
  • A male sperm whale feeding near the surface.

    Sperm Whale Shows His Teeth
    Jul 27 2012 - 2:49pm
    A male sperm whale feeding near the surface. Sperm whales are a toothed whale, rather than a baleen whale, and are found throughout the world's oceans.