The Ocean Through Time

Life began in the ocean around 3.5 billion years ago and as evolution progressed, many species went extinct -- and some left behind fossils -- as others appeared. And even now, the ocean hasn't stopped changing as evolution continues and humans leave their mark.

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LATEST TODAY'S CATCH

Elevator Rudists

May 1, 2013 - 9:48AMThese "elevator" rudists, an ancient bivalve, used one long heavy valve to anchor themselves in the sediment. They used their tentacles (shown here in pink) to filter food from the sea water. Discover more about the ancient...

Teeth and Jaw of an Ancient Shark
Mar 21, 2013 - 9:20AM
This well-preserved fossil is the only intact partial skull ever found of a...

Megalodon Teeth
Feb 26, 2013 - 10:35AM
Two fossilized teeth from a megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon) dating back...
Foraminifera on the Seafloor
Foraminifera on the Seafloor
Mar 26 2010 - 12:01pm
Dr. Karen Bice studies the foraminifera in ocean sediment to better understand climate change.
Panama Expedition Success
Jun 22 2011 - 5:44pm
Paeleobiologist Dr. Nicholas Pyenson, Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), set out with Jorge Velez-Juarbe, NMNH Research Student and Ph. D. Candidate at Howard University and Aaron O'Dea from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute...
Exploring Chile's Marine Fossil Record in the Atacama Desert
Sep 30 2011 - 6:38am
Smithsonian curator of fossil marine mammals Nick Pyenson and a team of collaborators are heading into Chile's Atacama Desert, shown here. They'll study a rich bonebed of fossil marine vertebrates that lived off the Chilean coast around 8 million years ago.
The Whale Family Tree
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This family tree shows how the ancestors of whales moved gradually from land to sea. Early whales took advantage of abundant marine resources. Baleen whales evolved later as polar climates cooled and marine resources became more concentrated, making filter feeding effective. Learn more at "Did...
Darwin’s Evolutionary Tree Diagram
Jul 2 2010 - 12:33pm
This 1837 sketch is Charles Darwin’s first diagram of an evolutionary tree. It appears in his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species (1837).
Dispatches from the Field: Treacherous stream crossings and a new fossil find
May 11 2012 - 9:58am
Editor's note: Read Nick's first blog post about "toothed" baleen whales to see what their team is excavating on Vancouver Island.  
So You Think You're Smarter Than a Cephalopod?
May 5 2011 - 4:41pm
The blanket octopus can rip a poisonous tentacle from a Portuguese man-o-war and wield it like a sword to ward off enemies as it soars through the ocean trailing its webbed cloak behind it.
Eocene Whales and Penguins Off the Coast of Peru
Sep 12 2011 - 11:43am
Offshore Peru, during the Eocene (~56-34 million years ago), showing three archaeocetes (ancient whales), along with a previously described fossil penguin.
Early Whale with Webbed Feet
Aug 21 2012 - 8:51am
This early whale was well suited to life at sea. But it also lived on land. An ancestor of the right whale, Maiacetus lived 49-40 million years ago. It had flipper-like limbs and webbed feet, like modern seals. But it also had ankle bones - clues that although Maiacetus swam, its...
Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr Stuart Sandin
Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr. Stuart Sandin
Nov 30 2009 - 1:55pm
A number of questions have inspired marine ecologist Stuart Sandin to head to the coral reefs of the Line Islands. Sandin works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. In this video he explains why the structure of coral reefs matters and how...
Searching for Fossil Whales in Peru
Sep 12 2011 - 2:08pm
George Mason University professor Mark D. Uhen and Dr. Matthew Lewin of the University of California, San Francisco, survey rocks of the Paracas Formation, in the southern part of Peru's Pisco Basin. The two were part of a team that discovered South America's oldest fossil whales, to date.
A photo of the cliffs at Mistaken Point, in Newfoundland
Ediacaran Fossils: One Species at a Time
Oct 27 2011 - 3:37pm
When the cod fishery collapsed in Newfoundland in the early 1990s, the hopes of the local fish harvesters collapsed with it. Hundreds of Newfoundlanders moved away and businesses that depended on the cod fishery closed. But retired schoolteacher Kit Ward of Portugal Cove South wasn’t content to...
Long Before Coral, Mollusks Built the Ocean's Reefs
Dec 4 2009 - 3:27pm
About 100 million years ago, during the heyday of the dinosaurs, reefs were built by mollusks called rudist clams. Like modern clams, rudists were bivalves, with two shells (or valves) joined at a hinge. But they sure didn’t look like modern clams!
Fossil tooth spiral
Aug 15 2012 - 9:45am
The fossil tooth whorl of the ancient shark Helicoprion, dating back 290 million years before present. For a long time, people didn't know what the shark looked like—but, thanks to a CT scan of a fossil, researchers finally put the pieces together in 2013. Read more about this story in our ...
Ancient Entoproct Community
Jan 18 2013 - 10:28am
For a long time, scientists thought that some small tentacled fossils were early ancestors of jellyfish. But a new study has found that these ancient animals are actually related to an entirely different group of animals: the entoprocts, which are still alive today. The new fossil (Cotyledion...
Dislodging the Fossil
Jun 22 2011 - 4:05pm
Paeleobiologist Dr. Nicholas Pyenson, Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), set out with Jorge Velez-Juarbe, NMNH Research Student and Ph. D. Candidate at Howard University and Aaron O'Dea from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute...