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PHOTO Deep Sea Copepod This copepod (Gaussia princeps) was collected deeper than 1000 meters in the Sargasso Sea by Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ) researchers in April 2006, as part of the 10-year Census of...MORE PHOTOS


	BLOG POST MORE STORIES On Biodiversity: Understanding its Meaning and Importance The ocean is home to a phenomenal diversity of marine organisms. They have evolv...
	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony? This colony of Rosacea may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually...
	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Male Copepod In many species of copepods, males are rare and short-lived. This male of Scapho...

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					A Colorful Foram: Globigerinoides ruber Mar 19, 2013 - 9:00AMThis foraminifer was collected as it floated about 3 meters below the surface off the coast of Puerto Rico. The central dark area is the shell surrounded by spines. The tiny yellow dots are symbiotic algae, which live...

Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony?

Mar 4, 2013 - 10:11AM

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

Deep-Water Larvacean, or “Sea-Tadpole”

Dec 10, 2012 - 10:20AM

In the icy waters of the Arctic, a deep-water larvacean (aka “sea tadpole”...

SPOTLIGHT


Zooplankton Biodiversity Holozooplankton are animals that live adrift in the ocean waves for their entire lives. The researchers who took part in the...

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...	Foraminifera Mar 25 2010 - 4:23pm Microscopic, single-celled organisms called foraminifera have a fossil record that extends from today to more than 500 million years ago. Although each foram is just a single cell, they build complex shells around themselves from minerals in the seawater. These shells have accumulated in layers of...
Searching for Life -- Epibionts -- On Sea Turtles Nov 8 2011 - 4:34pm Amanda Feuerstein with a nesting olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea). Feuerstein is a co-author of a study that surveyed algae, crustaceans, mollusks, and other epibionts that live on olive ridley and green sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean. You can read about the study on the Ocean Portal blog.	Male Copepod Jan 6 2011 - 2:05pm In many species of copepods, males are rare and short-lived. This male of Scaphocalanus acrocephalus is readily distinguished from the female by features of his antennae and tail. View the “Under Arctic Ice” photo essay to learn more.
Dinoflagellate Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Dinoflagellates are an important group of phytoplankton that produce oxygen in marine and freshwater. Some species form symbiotic relationships with larger animals, including corals (zooxanthellae), jellyfish, sea anemones, nudibranchs and others. Sometimes dinoflagellates grow out of control, to...	Deep-Water Larvacean Jul 27 2012 - 9:35am Found in Arctic waters, this rare deep-water species of larvacean, Oikopleura gorskyi, eats by filtering particles from the seawater it drifts through. Larvaceans build 'houses' around themselves made of protein that helps them filter the water even better. And when the filters in its house...
Deep-Water Larvacean, or “Sea-Tadpole” Dec 10 2012 - 10:20am In the icy waters of the Arctic, a deep-water larvacean (aka “sea tadpole” because it looks like a tadpole) drifts through the water in its 'house.' This house is made of protein and creates almost a shell around the larvacean and helps to filter particles out of the water for the larvacean to eat...	Deep Sea Copepod Aug 29 2012 - 12:17pm This copepod (Gaussia princeps) was collected deeper than 1000 meters in the Sargasso Sea by Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ) researchers in April 2006, as part of the 10-year Census of Marine Life. However, specimens of this species have been collected in all the world's oceans at many depths...
Encounters with Bioluminescent Creatures Apr 29 2010 - 10:23am Scientists describe the amazing bioluminescent creatures they encounter as they descend into the deep--siphonophores, ctenophores, and viperfish--in this Smithsonian/History Channel "Deep Ocean Explorers" video excerpt. If you like this video, watch the full 14-minute version of the Deep Ocean...	Zooplankton Biodiversity Aug 29 2012 - 12:19pm Holozooplankton are animals that live adrift in the ocean waves for their entire lives. The researchers who took part in the Census of Marine Zooplankton, a project of the Census of Marine Life, spent a decade surveying and photographing holozooplankton biodiversity around the world. Here is a...
On Biodiversity: Understanding its Meaning and Importance Aug 16 2011 - 1:05pm The ocean is home to a phenomenal diversity of marine organisms. They have evolved to inhabit warm waters near the equator and the icy waters of the Earth’s poles. Marine life takes advantage of the enormous volume the ocean comprises: from diatoms living near the sunny surface, to octopods...	Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony? Mar 4 2013 - 10:11am This colony of Rosacea may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually a large group of smaller siphonophores clustered and living together. In fact, the zooids (individual siphonophores living in the colony) cannot survive on their own. This specimen was photographed by the Census of...
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...	A Colorful Foram: Globigerinoides ruber Mar 19 2013 - 9:00am This foraminifer was collected as it floated about 3 meters below the surface off the coast of Puerto Rico. The central dark area is the shell surrounded by spines. The tiny yellow dots are symbiotic algae, which live in the protoplasm of the host organism. When the foraminifer dies, the...
Star Sand Grains Collected from Southern Japan May 24 2012 - 10:54am These star-shaped grains of sand, collected from southern Japan, look like miniature works of art -- but they were not sculpted by an artist. They are the shells of microscopic organisms called foraminifera, which build intricate shells from the calcium carbonate they collect while drifting through...	Launching a Multinet Jan 6 2011 - 10:09am Scientists use a multinet to collect Arctic zooplankton samples from different depth layers in the water column.