Media Gallery: Photos Newest

  • <p>Red Pigfish&nbsp;and Blue Mao-Mao&nbsp;school at the edge of a cavern in New Zealand's Poor Knights Islands. Read photographer <strong><a href="/blog/behind-photo-primal-ocean">Brian Skerry's story behind this photo</a></strong>.</p>

    Protected Pigfish and Mao-Mao School
    Mar 13 2013 - 7:21am
    Red Pigfish (Bodianus unimaculatus) and Blue Mao-Mao (Scorpis violacea) school at the edge of a cavern in New Zealand's Poor Knights Islands. Read photographer Brian Skerry's story behind this photo...
  • <p>Stinging cells (nematocysts) line the tentacles of this moon jelly (<strong><em><a href="http://eol.org/pages/203484/overview">Aurelia aurita</a></em></strong>).</p>

    Jellyfish Tentacles Close Up
    Mar 12 2013 - 7:35am
    Stinging cells (nematocysts) line the tentacles of this moon jelly (Aurelia aurita). Upon contact with prey or a predator, a venom-laden harpoon shoots out to stun or kill. Read more about jellyfish...
  • <p>Fish swim around the wreck of the <strong><em><a href="http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/battleoftheatlantic2/bedfordshire.html">HMT Bedfordshire</a></em></strong>, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II, and sunk off the coast of North Carolina.</p>

    Fish Swim Around Shipwreck
    Mar 11 2013 - 7:27am
    Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II. Originally part of Great Britain's Royal Navy...
  • The mandarinfish lives in western Pacific tropical coral reef ecosystems and lacks the scales that are typically seen on bony fish.

    Mandarinfish
    Mar 8 2013 - 10:57am
    These beautiful mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) are covered in bright blue, red, yellow and orange waves. What they lack, however, are traditional fish scales. They live in western Pacific...
  • <p>Comb jellies (such as this <em>Bolinopsis</em> species) are named for their combs: the rows of cilia lining their bodies that propel them through the ocean.</p>

    Ctenophore Combs - Close Up
    Mar 7 2013 - 10:11am
    Comb jellies (such as this Bolinopsis species) are named for their combs: the rows of cilia lining their bodies that propel them through the ocean. Read more about jellyfish and comb jellies. 
  • This 1874 photo of a squid draped over a bathtub was the first ever taken of a giant squid. It belonged to Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland.

    First Giant Squid Photo
    Mar 6 2013 - 8:27am
    This 1874 photo of a squid draped over a bathtub was the first ever taken of a giant squid. It belonged to the Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland. More about the giant squid can be found in the...
  • “It’s quite normal for this type of goby to sit still on hard coral like this. I spotted the first of these very small fish and set up my camera for the shot. Just as I was about to take a picture, a second goby came out of nowhere and sat on the first one. I quickly corrected the frame and took two or three shots before both of them disappeared. It was an incredible moment.”-- Nature's Best Photographer, Tobias Friedrich

    Gobies on Coral, Near Marsa Alam, Egypt
    Mar 5 2013 - 10:26am
    Gobies make up the largest family (Gobiidae) of fishes in the world, with over 2,000 species. In this large family you can also find the smallest fish. The gobies in this photo are about one inch...
  • <p>This colony of <em>Rosacea</em> may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually a large group of smaller siphonophores clustered and living together.</p>

    Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony?
    Mar 4 2013 - 10:11am
    This colony of Rosacea may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually a large group of smaller siphonophores clustered and living together. In fact, the zooids (individual siphonophores...
  • Two sea lions interact amongst schools of small fish.

    Seal or Sea Lion?
    Mar 1 2013 - 10:28am
    Seals and sea lions have many similarities, and are in the same family of Pinnipeds, but they lead very different lives. Seals are smaller than sea lions; male Stellar sea lions can grow to be up to...
  • These zooplankton collected on a research cruise include a jellyfish, a lanternfish, a snipe eel, two large orange shrimp, a fuzzy pyrosome (which is bioluminescent), and several smaller animals.

    Counting the Ocean's Diversity
    Feb 28 2013 - 10:18am
    How many animals swim in the sea? It's not easy to count them all. To get a feel for the ocean's diversity, scientists, such as those involved in the Census of Marine Life, sail out on research...
  • A polar bear and its cub in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

    Polar Bear Mother and Cub
    Feb 27 2013 - 10:23am
    The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is found in the Arctic and classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This marine mammal can swim more than 30 miles when sea ice...
  • Fossils of teeth from Giant Megatooth Shark

    Megalodon Teeth
    Feb 26 2013 - 10:35am
    Two fossilized teeth from a megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon) dating back more than 20 million years.