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Coral Reefs

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BLOG POST Making Science Sing: The Longest Time (Coral Triangle Edition) How do you make science sing? Just ask a couple of female scientists to sing about their research interests and their passion is quickly conveyed in a quirky little tune. Informative, inspir...MORE STORIES


	IMAGE GALLERY MORE GALLERIES Two Views of Coral Reefs: Thriving and Threatened Coral reefs are beautiful, vibrant ecosystems that house roughly one quarter of...
	BLOG POST MORE STORIES Hotspot of Biodiversity We have arrived as the advanced scouting party to the scene of this year's field...
	IMAGE GALLERY MORE GALLERIES Will Coral Reefs Survive Acidification? Nestled among the beautiful coral reefs of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a place tha...

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LATEST TODAY'S CATCH


					A School of Hawaiian Squirrelfish Apr 10, 2013 - 9:03AMCheck out the eyes on these Hawaiian squirrelfish (Sargocentron xantherythrum)! Because squirrelfish are almost entirely nocturnal, they need big eyes to absorb as much moonlight and starlight as they can in the dark. During the...

From Sea Sponge to HIV Medicine

Mar 26, 2013 - 9:40AM

Tectitethya crypta (formerly known as Cryptotheca crypta) is a large,...

Coral Spawning

Mar 15, 2013 - 9:07AM

Corals are sedentery animals, so how do they reproduce? One way is sexually...

SPOTLIGHT


Corals and Coral Reefs Coral reefs are the most diverse of all marine ecosystems. They teem with life, with perhaps one quarter of all ocean...

Deep-Sea Coral Community Jul 27 2011 - 10:46am Dr. Amy Baco-Taylor observed corals like these on her first submarine dive to a deep-sea coral bed off the coast of Hawaii. They include primnoids, zoanthids, and Gerardia.	Yellow-mouth Moray Eel in the Red Sea (Eilat, Israel) May 10 2012 - 12:43pm “This moray eel was resting among some hard coral and was mesmerized by my dive lights, making it a very cooperative subject. The moray eel rhythmically opens and closes its mouth to move water through its gills and facilitate respiration, giving it the appearance of being aggressive and making for...
Coral at the Great Barrier Reef Oct 2 2012 - 3:04pm This colorful coral lives in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. On the whole, this coral reef is the largest single structure built by living organisms and can be seen from space! Although more than one-third of the reef is protected from fishing and other human impacts, it is still 50% smaller than...	Shallow and Deep-Sea Coral Reefs Jun 7 2011 - 9:10am Unlike the shallow tropical coral reef pictured on the top, the deep-sea Oculina reef at bottom does not require sunlight. Learn more in the article "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."
Bubblegum Coral Jun 7 2011 - 12:32pm This bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea) has a fanlike shape. It is growing 1,310 m (4,298 ft) deep on the Davidson Seamount southwest of Monterey, California. Learn more about deep-sea corals in the multimedia feature "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."	Star of the Reef: One Species at a Time Sep 10 2010 - 3:03pm Each month, the Naked Oceans podcast invites a leading marine researcher to pick the "critter of the month" by asking: if you were a marine organism, which one would you be? This month, Dr. Nancy Knowlton, the Sant Chair for Marine Science at NMNH makes her pick: the Caribbean boulder star coral (...
Lophelia pertusa Colony Jul 27 2011 - 9:21am This colony of Lophelia pertusa was photographed from the Mingulay Reef Complex off Scotland in 2005. Learn more about the deep-sea coral reefs in our Deep-sea Corals article.	Hawaii’s Maro Coral Reef Sep 28 2012 - 10:35am This bluefin trevally is lucky to call Hawaii’s Maro Coral Reef, part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, its home. Maro is the largest reef in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and just one of the many marine ecosystems protected in the 140,000 square miles of...
Resilient Coral Oct 23 2012 - 11:54am A coral reef near Bocas del Toro, Panama recovers from a mass bleaching event that occurred in the summer of 2010. The tops contain some bleaching, but the sides look healthy. Smithsonian marine biologist Dr.	New Bamboo Coral Jun 7 2011 - 1:18pm See a few of the many species of deep-sea corals that have been discovered by scientists just since 2004. Learn about more deep-sea discoveries in our Deep-sea Corals article.
Fan Sponge Jul 27 2011 - 11:50am Dr. Martha Nizinski holds a specimen of a fan sponge (Phakellia sp.) collected at a deep-sea coral study site off the coast of South Carolina. Deep-sea corals and sponges provide structure for a variety of other organisms, which use these habitats for protection as well as for finding food and...	Auster Diving with Sea Lion Jul 27 2011 - 12:15pm A sea lion in the Sea of Cortez observes Dr. Peter Auster as he observes reef fishes. Learn more about deep-sea coral reefs in our Deep-sea Corals article.
Peter Auster: The Gee Whiz Factor Jul 27 2011 - 12:30pm I still haven’t gotten beyond the ‘gee whiz’ factor of studying communities of animals in deep-sea coral habitats. Climbing over undersea mountains and along the steep cliffs of submarine canyons using subs and ROVs, I’ve had the opportunity to see some species of deep-sea fishes alive for the very...	Gold Coral Close-up Jul 27 2011 - 11:09am This close-up photograph of gold coral (Gerardia sp.) was taken at the Cross Seamount in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 400 m (1,312 ft).
Coral Head Near Pearl and Hermes Atoll Aug 13 2010 - 4:27pm Papahānaumokuākea, a chain of islands northwest of the main Hawaiian archipelago, is home to vibrant coral reefs with scores of fish species. It was designated a Marine World Heritage Site in August 2010.	What Is Coral? A Coral Polyp and Zooxanthellae Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am What are corals? Corals themselves are animals. But tropical reef-building corals have tiny plant-like organisms living in their tissue. The corals couldn’t survive without these microscopic algae–called zooxanthellae (zo-zan-THELL-ee). This cutaway diagram of a coral polyp shows where the...