Up-close image of a translucent krill.

Plankton

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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Featured Content

The shell of a sea slug

A Microscopic Identity Crisis

Small red hyperiid.

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.

Zooplankton Biodiversity

Image of two dinoflagellates seen through a microscope.

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.

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

Forams are tiny single-celled organisms.

Foraminifera

a siphonophore

Encounters with Bioluminescent Creatures

Image of two dinoflagellates seen through a microscope.

Dinoflagellates: One Species at a Time

Nine small invertebrates held on two fingers.

On Biodiversity: Understanding its Meaning and Importance

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

Zooplankton Biodiversity

A photo of a squid using bioluminescence to hide in the deep sea.

Bioluminescence

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

Five Questions with Russ Hopcroft, Zooplankton Whiz

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.

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

Small red hyperiid.

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

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

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

A large red research vessel among icy waters and snowy mountains

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.

You Light Up My World!

Banner Credit

Uwe Kils, Wikimedia Commons