Ocean Life & Ecosystems

From the tiny to the titanic, from the familiar to the undiscovered, the ocean offers a stunning diversity of marine life and nearly every kind of habitat imaginable. Dive in and explore them here.

EDUCATOR RESOURCES

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Earth Day, Spawned from the Sea

Apr 22, 2013 - 10:29AMSometimes I think that our planet Earth, named for the Old English word for “dry land” (eorthe), should get a new name. Despite our knowledge that more than 70% of the planet’s surface is ocean—definitely not “dry land”—we still...

The Search for an Elusive Ribbon Worm
Mar 12, 2013 - 2:40PM
With 1,400 named species of ribbon worms inhabiting every ecosystem on earth...

How Coastal Seagrass Feeds the Deep
Feb 11, 2013 - 1:53PM
It is a well-known fact that for animals living in the deep sea, food can be...

SPOTLIGHT

Sea Creatures from the Deep: A Video by National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life

The Census of Marine Life - a ten-year effort by scientists from around the world to answer the age-old... 		Sea Creatures from the Deep A Video by National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life
MORE OCEAN LIFE & ECOSYSTEMS

AUDIO / VIDEO

  • <p>Meet Dr. Candy Feller, a Smithsonian scientist who studies mangrove swamps.</p>

    Investigating Nutrient Pollution's Impact on Mangroves
  • <p><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; font-size: medium;">&nbsp;</span></p><div style="color: #000000; font-size: 10px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><p>A glimpse of life in and around deep-sea corals near the Aleutian Islands.&nbsp;</p></div><p>&nbsp;</p>

    Aleutian Islands Deep-Sea Corals
  • "Oil Spill Pioneers" describes WHOI's four decades of experience studying oil spills, dating back to the 1969 Cape Code oil spill in Falmouth, MA.

    Science in a Time of Crisis: Oil Spill Pioneers
  • The Pribilof fur seal population is declining, and researchers are tracking their migration routes in the open ocean and along the coast of California.

    The Wandering Fur Seal
  • A polar bear and her cub on the ice

    Polar Bears: One Species at a Time
  • <p>A fun day at the beach turns frightening when something mysterious appears in the water. It's not a shark!&nbsp;</p>

    Rethink the Shark
  • <p>A humorous look at a real problem – people feeding wild Dolphins.</p>

    Don't Feed Wild Dolphins
  • Emergency response teams rush to the aid of North Atlantic right whales that become entangled in fish gear.

    Whale Rescue
  • <p>This octopod is sometimes called a “Dumbo” octopod because of its earlike fins.</p>

    Video of Cirrate Octopod aka Dumbo Octopus
  • <p><span style="line-height: 20px;">John Hildebrand discusses his research at the Scripps Whale Acoustic Lab on the FLIP platform.</span></p>

    The Whale Acoustic Lab
  • Mangroves abut blue ocean waters.

    Mangroves: One Species at a Time
  • Take a dive in a submersible to find deep-sea corals with scientist Brendan Roark.

    Submersible Collects Deep-Sea Corals
  • <p>On April 27, 1986, an estimated 50,000 barrels of medium-weight crude oil drained from a ruptured storage tank at a refinery in Panama, polluting the coast and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Galeta Marine Laboratory, located at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. For 15 years before the oil spilled into Bahía las Minas, researchers had collected baseline biological and environmental data. Dr. Jeremy Jackson, Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, led an in-depth study of the oil spill’s effects. Dr. Jackson discusses the study, its lessons for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the even more devastating major threats that face the ocean today.</p>

    Lessons from the Panama Oil Spill
  • <p>In the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, what is the effect of oil on invertebrates like jellyfish, clams, crabs, sea stars, and plankton? Dr. Chris Mah suggests “The Invisible Loss” may be widespread and devastating.</p>

    Oil’s Impact on Marine Invertebrates

IMAGE GALLERIES

  • a photograph of a bioluminescent squid at Sunset Reef Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

    Ocean Views from Nature's Best Photos
  • Check out the array of tiny shrimps, fishes and nudibranchs that call this sargassum algae home.

    A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum
  • An oceanic whitetip shark swims near a biologist in the Bahamas.

    Image Gallery: Swimming with Sharks
  • A great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) breaches above the surface of the water to catch its prey.

    Photo Sequence of Great White Shark Hunting

  • Collections from Curaçao

  • Diversity of Deep-Sea Corals
  • The Baltic Sea faces challenges from pollution, algae blooms, over fishing, and invasive species.

    Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

  • Bizarre and Beautiful Coral Reef Animals
  • A painting of Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland buying a dead giant squid caught by fishermen in 1874

    From Mermen to Architeuthis, Our Fascination with the Giant Squid

  • Bioluminescent Animals Photo Gallery
  • This swimming snail is transparent and has shiny black eyes.

    Zooplankton Biodiversity
  • X-ray of a white-rimmed stingray

    X-Rays of Fish Reveal Diversity

  • Seamounts, A Deep-Sea Habitat
  • A Right Whales Shows Its Baleen

    Baleen: From Whales to People

PHOTOS

  • Sperm Whale Post-Mortem

  • A Handful of Biodiversity

  • X-Ray Image of Grooved Razorfish

  • Sian Ka'an, Mexico

  • Giant Pacific Manta Ray, Revillagigedos Islands, Mexico

  • Big Red Jellyfish

  • Meet Phoenix—One of about 450 remaining North Atlantic Right Whales

  • Polar Bear Mother and Cub

  • Undisturbed vs. Trawled Reef

  • Tide Pools and Adaptations

  • Dredge Material Kills Mangroves

  • Adolf’s Eelpout

  • Banc d'Arguin National Park, Mauritania

  • Cooks Bay, Moorea