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Ocean Portal by The Smithsonian Institution

Census of Marine Life

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ARTICLE Arctic Ocean Diversity The ArcOD project brought together existing information about the diversity of Arctic ecosystems, collected new samples to fill in gaps of knowledge and looked for species and community chan...MORE STORIES


	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Forces of Change in the Ocean The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth and is essential to all life....
	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Elephant Seals Tussle for Territory Male northern elephant seals face off on the beach by vocalizing through their e...
	IMAGE GALLERY MORE GALLERIES Census of Marine Life: Wild and Wonderful Creatures The Census of Marine Life - a ten-year effort by scientists from aroun...

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					Red Mid-Water Comb Jelly Apr 18, 2013 - 10:35AMLike this ctenophore (Aulococtena acuminata), many animals that live in the midwater zone are red—making them almost invisible in the dim blue light that filters down from the sea surface. This small comb jelly snares prey with...

Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony?

Mar 4, 2013 - 10:11AM

This colony of Rosacea may look like a single jellyfish, but it is...

New Jelly Species: 'Bathykorus bouilloni'

Oct 16, 2012 - 9:53AM

Many expeditions in the Arctic reveal new species, such as this jellyfish...

SPOTLIGHT


The Census of Marine Life During the decade of the Census of Marine Life, more than 6,000 potential new ocean species were discovered by 2,700...

Creature Feature from the Census of Marine Life Aug 2 2010 - 1:36pm In a decade long project, which ended in October 2010, scientists with the Census of Marine Life traveled the world cataloging the ocean’s life forms. From Australia to China to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond, these researchers documented tens of thousands of diverse creatures, which...	Purple Sea Star Aug 29 2012 - 5:30pm This bright purple sea star is a new species found by the Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems, a project of the Census of Marine Life. This particular specimen was seen on the reefs of the French Frigate Shoals during the day, and is about a foot long.
Midwater Jellyfish Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am A fringe of short tentacles surrounds the flattened bell of this tiny, transparent jellyfish (Halicreas minimum), which can be found at depths up to 984 feet (300 meters). But it would be hard to spot: the bell grows up to just 4 centimeters (2 inches) across! See more deep ocean diversity and...	Building a Database Jan 6 2011 - 4:06pm Expedition data went to the Arctic Ocean Diversity database of the Census of Marine Life to establish a baseline that will help to document change in the poorly known Arctic Ocean.
Five Questions with Brigitte Ebbe, Polychaete Pundit Apr 8 2013 - 11:11am Now that the Census of Marine Life is over, we’re checking in with some of the researchers to hear about their favorite expedition, what they learned, and how the Census and its findings continue to influence their work.	Red Mid-Water Comb Jelly Apr 18 2013 - 10:35am Like this ctenophore (Aulococtena acuminata), many animals that live in the midwater zone are red—making them almost invisible in the dim blue light that filters down from the sea surface. This small comb jelly snares prey with its two short tentacles.
Studying Hydrothermal Vent Life Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Census researchers manipulate the robotic arm of the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Quest to study shrimp and other deep sea life forms. They discovered the creatures at a hydrothermal vent 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) below the surface of the Atlantic.	Census of Marine Life: Wild and Wonderful Creatures Aug 3 2010 - 7:01am The Census of Marine Life - a ten-year effort by scientists from around the world to answer the age-old question, “What lives in the sea?” It was an international effort to asses the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life that lives in our ocean, and the project offically...
Marine Zooplankton Aug 28 2012 - 3:33pm Holozooplankton (hereafter called "zooplankton") are small animals that drift in the ocean waves through their entire lives. As such, they are not very easy to count or even identify to species -- but that was the goal of CMarZ. The scientists working on the project aimed to study the species...	Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) Aug 22 2012 - 1:57pm The TOPP program brought together scientists from seven countries to explore the lives of large mid-water animals such as sea turtles, birds, whales, tuna, sharks, seals and even squids. Animals that live throughout the open ocean are often hard to track, and because of this difficulty, we know...
Close-up View of Salps Sep 7 2012 - 3:38pm This close-up view of salps, which have aggregated together into a long chain, have brilliant red guts from eating red plankton. They were observed by researchers with the Census of Marine Zooplankton in the Sargasso Sea.	Under Arctic Ice Jan 4 2011 - 5:17pm Hidden beneath Arctic ice is a world few have ever seen. Take the icy plunge with a team of ice-loving scientists.
A Swimming Snail Sep 7 2012 - 4:00pm Sea butterflies (also called pteropods) are sea snails aptly named: they are shelled marine snails, each with a foot like a wing, that swim in the water column like butterflies. This one, Atlanta peronii, is very small: the biggest specimen on record was less than half an inch (11 millimeters) long...	New Jelly Species: 'Bathykorus bouilloni' Oct 16 2012 - 9:53am Many expeditions in the Arctic reveal new species, such as this jellyfish Bathykorus bouilloni, which, strangely, has only four tentacles! Dr. Kevin Raskoff from California State University, Monterey Bay first captured one in the deep Arctic in 2002 and thought it was rare.
Sea Stars and Urchins off Antarctica Sep 28 2012 - 3:03pm Sea stars (Odontaster validus) and sea urchins (Sterechinus neumayeri) spread over an algae-covered seafloor off the coast of Antarctica.	A Ctenophore Feeds Aug 29 2012 - 1:35pm The comb jelly (ctenophore) Thalassocalyce inconstans is found in shallow to deep water in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and sometimes in warmer Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of California -- although this one was photographed in the Sargasso Sea by Census of Marine Zooplankton...