Close up image of small seashells laying in the sand.

Seagrasses are flowering plants that can form dense underwater meadows and are an important shallow water habitat.

Seagrass Overview

Are you a student researching seagrass or someone looking to learn more about seagrass beds? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

Corals, sponges, and algae are the major components of most coral reef communities as shown in this picture.

Overview

Corals and Coral Reefs

two mangrove trees in the crashing waves

Overview

Mangroves

Looking through this iceberg's reflection in the Antarctic water, you can see the iceberg below the surface—some 90% of its total volume.

Overview

The Arctic and The Antarctic

Coral scientist Dr. Amy Baco-Taylor observed corals like these on her first submarine dive to a deep-sea coral bed off the coast of Hawaii.

Overview

Deep-sea Corals

a deep sea jellyfish

Overview

The Deep Sea

Ecosystems Articles

Welcome to the mangrove forest, where the daily rhythm of the tides sets the pace. These coastal wetlands create a sanctuary for an extraordinary range of creatures, three-fourths of all tropical fish are born here and countless reptiles and birds cal

Video

Inside the Mangrove Forest

Cabo Pulmo – Giving Optimism to Coral Reefs

Three gray fish swim in front of a large coral head.

September 2014

Worth the Investment: Ocean Real Estate Reveals Hidden Diversity

A "reef hotel" made of PVS layers on the seafloor.

February 2015

a speaker at the podium

Video

Bioluminescence in Art and Science with Edie Widder

Martha Nizinski: Hooked on Deep-Sea Corals

Scientist Martha Nizinski examines a sample of the deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa, collected 600-m (1,969-ft) deep off the coast of the southeastern United States.

July 2011

two people in the water with mountains in the background

Video

Welcome to the Moorea Biocode Project

Down below where the sunlight cannot penetrate, the ocean is a dark, cold and alien landscape. Can life really exist in such an extreme environment? NOAA Ocean Today Every Full Moon takes a look at the bizarre and remarkable creatures that persist in the d

Video

Creep into the Deep

Aerial view of two bowhead whales swimming in the ocean.

Audio

Bowhead Whale: One Species at a Time

A close-up image of red coral polyps.

Audio

Star of the Reef: One Species at a Time

Screenshot of "Sea Creatures from the Deep" video showing the teeth of an anglerfish.

Video

Sea Creatures from the Deep: A Video by National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life

Why a Tusk? The real-life unicorns of the sea and the tusks that make them famous

A narwhal breaches the surface, its tusk pointed to the sky

August 2017

The Encyclopedia of Life brings us another installment of the podcast, One Species at a Time. In this podcast, host Ari Daniel Shapiro relates two close calls with polar bears. Listen as Heather Cray recalls how, dumped by a storm on a small Arct

Audio

Polar Bears: One Species at a Time