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The Ocean is important to all life, including yours. Join us.

Welcome to the Ocean Portal – a unique, interactive online experience that inspires awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the world’s Ocean, developed by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and more than 20 collaborating organizations.

You are among the first wave of visitors to the Portal, an experience which we hope will empower you to shape and share your personal Ocean experiences, knowledge, and perspectives.

The input you provide through feedback modules and comment boxes will help us to shape future Ocean Portal content and functionality. Like the Ocean, which is made of millions of marine species, your comments, questions, and clicks will help to bring the Portal closer to the vastness and variety of the Ocean itself.

Collaborator Contributions

Cut of Atlantic Salmon

A beautiful cut of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), a popular species among seafood lovers that is in severe decline. Check out our guest blog post by Oceana's Emily Fisher on the explosion of salmon farming in Chile, and learn more about making smart seafood choices in our Sustainable Seafood section.

NMNH Invertebrate Zoology Museum Specialist Yolanda Villacampa

Yolanda Villacampa is a museum specialist in the invertebrate zoology department of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. She is standing surrounded by the invertebrate zoology collection.

NMNH Paleobiology Collections Management David Bohaska

David Bohaska, Museum Specialist - Vertebrate Paleontology, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

Professor Scott Glenn at Smithsonian with Historic Underwater Glider

Scarlet Knight Showcased at Smithsonian

The first underwater robotic vehicle—or “glider”—to cross an ocean is the centerpiece of a new exhibit at the Smithsonian. Rutgers University professor Scott Glenn explains that the technology is now being used to study the Gulf oil spill. Read more about the glider's historic Atlantic crossing, tracing the path of Christopher Columbus's Pinta.

Mystery from the Deep: The Puzzling Case of the Whalefish

In 1895, two Smithsonian scientists described a new kind of deep sea creature, which they named the “whalefish.” Little did they know, this fish would become one of the prime suspects in an international mystery that took scientists decades to solve.

Horseshoe Crab in Stage Harbor, Massachusetts

Horseshoe Crab in Massachusetts

A small horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) rests on seaweed in Stage Harbor, Massachusetts. Atlantic horseshoe crabs can be found along the coast of North America from the Yucatán Peninsula to Maine. Read more about how the copper-based blue blood of horseshoe crabs has helped the medical industry.

Amanda Feuerstein

Amanda Feuerstein is program coordinator in the office of the Sant Chair for Marine Science at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and a Smithsonian scientific diver.

Detail of The Smithsonian Community Crochet Reef

Detail of The Smithsonian Community Reef

Detail of the Smithsonian Community Reef, a local, community-created "satellite" to the Institute For Figuring's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef exhibit.

The Smithsonian Community Reef

Local crafters who contributed to the Smithsonian Community Reef proved that there is no limit to the colorful reef forms that can be created using hyperbolic crochet techniques. Their wildly imaginative pieces are on display alongside the main installation of the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History from October 16, 2010 to April 24, 2011.

Smithsonian Community Reef from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef exhibit

A Rainbow of Crocheted Corals

Visitors to the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef temporary exhibit at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History saw both the main installation created by to the Institute For Figuring and the stunning Smithsonian Community Reef created by local crafters.