Today's Catch
Dec 11, 2012
Credit:Glen Tepke/Marine Photobank
A tufted puffin ( Fratercula cirrhata ) in flight against a gray sky in Alaska’s Pribilof Islands (USA). Puffins are charismatic seabirds that delight wildlife enthusiasts and draw tourists to the islands where they nest. Read about the return of Atlantic puffins ( Fratercula arctica ) to Maine in Smithsonian Magazine.Read more
Dec 10, 2012
Credit:Hidden Ocean 2005, NOAA
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. And when the filters get clogged, the plankter can just shed the 'house' and build itself a new...Read more
Dec 7, 2012
Credit:Mark Jones
In Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, brown pelicans ( Pelecanus occidentalis ) nest at the top of a mangrove tree. Many other kinds of birds—as well as insects, frogs, snakes, and lizards—live in the canopy of mangroves. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story .Read more
Dec 6, 2012
Credit:©2003 MBARI
Riftia tubeworm ( Riftia pachyptila ) colonies grow where hot, mineral-laden water flows out of the seafloor in undersea hot springs—such as the Guymas Basin of the Gulf of California at 2,000 meters (6562 feet), where MBARI took this photo. As volcanic activity deep below the seafloor changes, sometimes these hot springs stop flowing. In this case, the entire worm colony may die off. But new hot...Read more
Dec 5, 2012
Credit:Sandra J. Raredon / Smithsonian Institution
An X-ray image of grooved razorfish, Centriscus scutatus . Razorfish are encased in thin, transparent bony plates attached to their spines, which you can see in the X-ray. Scientists in the Division of Fishes at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History use X-ray images, like the one shown, to study the complex bone structure and diversity of fish without having to dissect or damage...Read more
Dec 4, 2012
Credit:Bettina Balnis/Guylian Seahorses of the World 2010, Courtesy Project Seahorse
Most wild seahorses (here the thorny seahorse Hippocampus histrix ) are monogamous and some species mate for life. Searching for mates can be difficult and risky since seahorses are poor swimmers, found in low densities and rely on camouflage to hide from predators. By remaining faithful to one partner, the pairs have more time to undergo more pregnancies during a single mating season and,...Read more
Dec 4, 2012
Credit:Chuck Savall
Munch, munch. The queen parrotfish ( Scarus vetula ) scrapes algae from Caribbean coral reefs with its parrot-like beak. While feeding, hard stone and coral inevitably get mixed into its lunch, which in turn gets ground up by the fish and deposited back into the ecosystem as sand! This fish is an adult male. But when young, parrotfish have the ability to change sex, depending on the population’s...Read more
Dec 3, 2012
Credit:Courtesy of Ian Joughlin
It’s confirmed: both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice —around 350 billion tons each year—and, as a result, sea level has risen 11.1 millimeters worldwide since 1992. This photo shows a summertime channel created by the flow of melted ice, which ultimately carries the water away from the glacier to the sea. It's not easy to measure melting ice. But by using data from 10 satellite missions,...Read more
Nov 30, 2012
Credit:Wolcott Henry
This guineafowl moray ( Gymnothorax meleagris ) is one of about 200 species of moray eels found in tropical and subtropical coral reefs . Moray eels are a type of bony fish. Many species, like this one with a brown body and white spots similar to a guineafowl, are named after their distinct appearances.Read more
Nov 29, 2012
Credit:Courtesy of David Littschwager/National Geographic Society
Over a 10-year period NOAA scientists have collected 72,000 seawater samples, and their data show that the ocean is becoming more acidic because of climate change -caused warming. That small shift is enough to dissolve the shells of animals like this pteropod in the lab—or even in the ocean. Because of acidifying waters, pteropod shells have already started dissolving in the Southern Ocean.Read more
