Plankton | Smithsonian Ocean

Up-close image of a translucent krill.

Forams are tiny single-celled organisms.

The World of Foraminifera

Take a closer look at a few members of this fascinating life form in this slideshow.

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The shell of a sea slug

Article

A Microscopic Identity Crisis

Small red hyperiid.

Slideshow

The Hyper Eyes of Hyperiids: How Some Shrimp-Like Creatures See Light in the Deep Sea

Census researchers discovered this sea cucumber (Enypniastes sp.) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Slideshow

Zooplankton Biodiversity

Image of two dinoflagellates seen through a microscope.

Audio

Dinoflagellates: One Species at a Time

A female (top left) and male Photerus annecohenae. Note that females are larger than males (sexual dimorphism) and that males have bigger eyes.

Article

You Light Up My World!

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.

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Plankton Articles

A large red research vessel among icy waters and snowy mountains

Article

Shipboard Life in the Antarctic

A female (top left) and male Photerus annecohenae. Note that females are larger than males (sexual dimorphism) and that males have bigger eyes.

Article

You Light Up My World!

Forams are tiny single-celled organisms.

Slideshow

Foraminifera

This copepod (Gaussia princeps) was collected deeper than 1000 meters in the Sargasso Sea by Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ) researchers in April 2006.

Article

Five Questions with Russ Hopcroft, Zooplankton Whiz

Small red hyperiid.

Slideshow

The Hyper Eyes of Hyperiids: How Some Shrimp-Like Creatures See Light in the Deep Sea

A large, black instrument is hauled onto a ship's deck by researchers wearing hard hats and life vests.

Article

What the Big Picture Can Teach Us About Tiny Ocean Creatures

Image of two dinoflagellates seen through a microscope.

Audio

Dinoflagellates: One Species at a Time

An arrow-worm from the genus Spadella. Alvariño discovered and classified the species Spadella gaetanoi in 1978.

Article

Ángeles Alvariño: Woman of Many Namesakes

Census researchers discovered this sea cucumber (Enypniastes sp.) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Slideshow

Zooplankton Biodiversity

A close-up image of deep-sea fish Argyropelecus aculeatus

Article

15 Creatures in the Gulf of Mexico that are Stranger Than Fiction

Nine small invertebrates held on two fingers.

Article

On Biodiversity: Understanding its Meaning and Importance

The Amazon River carries all the rainwater that lands in the Amazon rainforest, covering some 2.1 million square miles, into the ocean. And with it, it carries vital nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and silicon.

Article

Thirty Days to Submission: How I Made a Video for Ocean180