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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

Crochet Jellyfish from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Crochet Jellyfish

Corals are just one of the many marine life forms that can be modeled in crochet. Jellyfish, like the one pictured here, starfish, sea snails, and kelp are some of the other organisms that contributors to the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef have created over time.

Ladies Silurian Atoll from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Ladies Silurian Atoll from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

A piece of the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef known as the Ladies Silurian Atoll. The HCCR exhibit was on display in the Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, from October 16, 2010 through April 24, 2011.

Isaac Ginis, hurricane modeling expert from The University of Rhode Island

Dr. Isaac Ginis

Dr. Isaac Ginis, an expert in hurricane modeling from The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography, is the second featured speaker in Changing Tides: A Series of Ocean Discussions, brought to you by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE), and the National Science Foundation.

Marine Biologist Nancy Knowlton

Nancy Knowlton in the Field

Nancy Knowlton, the Sant Chair for Marine Science at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, is author of Citizens of the Sea, published in partnership with the National Geographic Society and the Census of Marine Life.

Cover of the Book Citizens of the Sea

Citizens of the Sea Cover

The cover of Dr. Nancy Knowlton's new book, Citizens of the Sea, published in partnership with the National Geographic Society and the Census of Marine Life. With dazzling photographs and reader-friendly text, the book addresses such topics as the homes, movements, mating, social dynamics, and predation of sea creatures.

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Forms

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Forms

Crocheted corals from the Smithsonian Community Reef group on Flickr. The community reef project is a satellite reef of the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef exhibition, was on display in Sant Ocean Hall from October 16th, 2010 through April 24th, 2011.

Logo for the Carnival of the Blue.

Carnival of the Blue Logo

Logo for the Carnival of the Blue, a rotating monthly compilation of the "best of" ocean blogging.

Two young visitors look into the coral reef aquarium at the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall

Young Visitors to the Sant Ocean Hall

Two young visitors to the Sant Ocean Hall learn about the coral reef tank with one of our friendly volunteer docents. Both the Ocean Portal and the Museum's free public programs are made possible in part by contributions from supporter like you. Big or small, every gift helps!

A sunset over marshland near Ocean City, N.J.

Sunset Over Marshland

The sun sets over marshland near Ocean City, N.J.

A tiny larval (baby) starfish.

Larval Starfish

A tiny larval (baby) starfish. The immature forms of invertebrates and other animals may be even more vulnerable to threats such as oil spills than adult forms.