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

The Discovery of Multispecies Communities of Seacows

Jan 26, 2012 - 10:26AMSirenians, or seacows, are a group of marine mammals that include manatees and dugongs. In the modern world, only one species of seacow is found in each world region, however, the fossil record tells a different story. According...

The Perfect Underwater Photo
Dec 19, 2011 - 10:57AM
There is of course, no such thing as the perfect photograph, as there is no...

Using Light Painting to Teach Biolumines...
Nov 21, 2011 - 11:00AM
What does a bioluminescent creature that lives more than two miles below the...

SPOTLIGHT

Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea

CREDIT: Tauna Rankin, NOAA (map); Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), accessed February 9, 2011 World...
MORE OCEAN LIFE & ECOSYSTEMS

AUDIO / VIDEO

  • dinoflagellates

    Podcast of Life: Dinoflagellates
  • <p>The Census of Marine Life, a decade-long effort to catalog life in the sea, was completed in October 2010. Census researchers released the the most comprehensive inventory of ocean species to date.</p>

    Census of Marine Life Video Release
  • <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
  • <p>Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's Dr. Chris Reddy studies the biological impacts of oil on a Massachusett's salt marsh that was inundated with oil after a spill in 1969.</p>

    Oil and Water Don't Mix, Even After 40 Years
  • Tube worms called riftia occupy a deep-sea vent

    Podcast of Life: Riftia Worms
  • A white, elongated, and whorled wentletrap shell, seen from two angles.

    Podcast: Sanibel Island Shells
  • Discover some amazing corals in this footage from the Juan de Fuca Canyon off the Olympic coast in the Pacific Ocean and the Davidson Seamount, an underwater volcano outside the boundary of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean.

    Corals in the Juan de Fuca Canyon and the Davidson Seamount
  • sea cucumber

    Podcast of Life: Sea Cucumber
  • <p>This short video takes you two hundred miles off the coast of Oregon and some 6,600 feet below the water's surface to observe the Dumbo octopus (<strong><a href="http://www.eol.org/pages/488438"><em>Grimpoteuthis bathynectes</em></a></strong>).&nbsp;</p>

    Dance of the Dumbo Octopod
  • school of bluefin tuna

    One Species at a Time: Bluefin Tuna
  • North Atlantic right whale

    One Species at a Time: North Atlantic Right Whale
  • red paper lantern jellyfish

    One Species at a Time: Red Paper Lantern Jellyfish
  • Dr. Jeremy Jackson presents his 'Brave New Ocean' talk at the National Museum of Natural History as part of the Changing Tides lecture series on World Ocean Day, 2010.

    Changing Tides - Brave New Ocean
  • A profile shot of a Greenland shark's head

    Researching Greenland Sharks, Podcast
  • Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Rutgers University have researched the connection between the physical processes of the ocean and the life that lives there using a REMUS autonomous underwater vehicle.

    Exploring Ocean Life with an Underwater Vehicle
  • a mangrove

    Podcast of Life: Mangroves
  • <p>Researchers frequently track North Atlantic right whales from ships or from the air. This video of Phoenix (left) was captured in March 2009 on George’s Shoal, east of Chatham, Mass.</p>

    Phoenix the North Atlantic Right Whale Video
  • a bowhead whale and her calf, seen from above

    One Species at a Time: Bowhead Whale
  • In this video marine ecologist Stuart Sandin, of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, explains why the structure of coral reefs matters and how human activity can impact it.

    Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr. Stuart Sandin
  • A polar bear and her cub on the ice

    One Species at a Time: Polar Bears
  • In this presentation given at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on April 19, 2011, scientists discuss oil spill remediation, wildlife rescue and the health of the Gulf of Mexico and its fisheries one year after the oil spill.

    Lecture: One Year After the Gulf Oil Spill
  • <p>The sea grape, <em>Caulerpa racemose var. cylindracea</em>, is a type of algae that is native to Australia, but in recent years has invaded many areas of the Mediterranean Sea.</p>

    Sea Grapes: A Google Earth Tour
  • <p>Learning about underwater vents, hot springs and the ecosystems that surround them</p>

    Submarine Volcanoes and Hydrothermal Vents
  • <p>Scientists on the tiny island of Moorea are gathering one of every life form large enough to pick up with tweezers in a quest to build a detailed catalog of the entire ecosystem.</p>

    The Moorea Biocode Project
  • <p>While conducting field work in <strong><a href="http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-photos/curaçao">Curaçao</a></strong> in 2011, Smithsonian researchers encountered trash along remote beaches and deep in the water column. This video gives a brief glimpse of some of the marine debris they found.</p>

    Trash on the Beach and in the Ocean
  • A bonaire banded box jellyfish, Tamoya ohboya

    Podcast of Life: Box Jellies
  • <p><a href="/ocean-videos/deep-ocean-explorers"></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Scientists describe their astonishing experiences and the amazing bioluminescent creatures they encounter in the deep ocean.<br /></span></p>

    Encounters with Bioluminescent Creatures
  • Red lionfish are successful predators and can alter food webs in waters where they are invasive.

    Lionfish on the Loose

IMAGE GALLERIES

  • Studying Deep-Sea Corals
  • An oceanic whitetip shark swims near a biologist in the Bahamas.

    Image Gallery: Swimming with Sharks

  • Two Views of Coral Reefs: Thriving and Threatened
  • Photos that illustrate the diversity of deep sea creatures

    Deep Ocean Diversity
  • a wrasse cleaning a butterflyfish

    Image Gallery: The Perfect Underwater Photo
  • copepods under a microscope

    Right Whale Feeding
  • A great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) breaches above the surface of the water to catch its prey

    Photo Sequence of Great White Shark Hunting
  • an orange sea star clinging to rocks in the ocean, documented by Census of Marine Life scientists

    Census of Marine Life: Wild and Wonderful Creatures
  • a red octopus, Stauroteuthis syrtenis, extends its tentacles in the deep sea

    Creepy Critters: Marine Life Surfaces for Halloween
  • x-ray image of a winghead shark

    X-Rays of Fish Reveal Diversity
  • a photograph of a bioluminescent squid at Sunset Reef Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

    Ocean Views from Nature's Best Photos
  • 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

  • Diversity of Deep-Sea Corals

  • Seamounts, A Deep-Sea Habitat
  • An underwater photo of a school of jacks and a scuba diver

    Ocean Views Award Winners, 2011
  • The Baltic Sea faces challenges from pollution, algae blooms, over fishing, and invasive species.

    Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

  • Rudist Reefs

  • Newly Discovered Deep-Sea Corals

  • Bizarre and Beautiful Coral Reef Animals

PHOTOS

  • Jorge Velez-Juarbe

  • Bucket of Creatures from an Arctic Shelf

  • Undisturbed vs. Trawled Reef

  • Treated Cancer Cells

  • Jellyfish Sandwiches

  • Light Painting of a Jellyfish

  • Coral Reef Ecosystem, Red Sea

  • Searching for Life -- Epibionts -- On Sea Turtles

  • Yellow-mouth Moray Eel, Red Sea, Eilat, Israel

  • Giant Squid Caught on Film

  • Lophelia Pertusa Coral Polyps

  • Orange Roughy and Bycatch

  • X-Ray Image of a White-Rimmed Stingray

  • X-Ray Image of a Longnose Butterflyfish

  • A Tale of a Right Whale

  • Kilauea Volcano, Kalapana, Hawaii, USA

  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

  • The Bright Beneath, a 2011 Installation by Shih Chieh Huang

  • Red Tide

  • Light Painted Fish

  • Red Crab Migration, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean

  • Humpback Whale, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, USA

  • Bioluminescent Octopod

  • Tide Pools and Adaptations

  • Harlequin Shrimp East of Bali, Indonesia

  • ROV Collects Black Corals

  • Johnson-Sea-Link Submersible

  • Breaching Sequence 5