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Relatively slow moving, juvenile plane-head filefish Monacanthus hispidus (Monacanthidae) travel along with the algae. They pick off and eat small animals as they move around in the rotating sargassum ball. Adult filefish only grow to be about 11

Personal Perspectives

A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum

The open ocean is surprisingly barren to the naked eye. Every now and again you...

May 2012

This shrimp is colored to fit in - probably why they are common members of the seaweed community.

slideshow

A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum Slideshow

Smithsonian Marine Science Network Postdoctoral Fellow, Seabird McKeon, returns...

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 16:43

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

Personal Perspectives

How Coastal Seagrass Feeds the Deep

It is a well-known fact that for animals living in the deep sea, food can be...

February 2013

This shrimp is colored to fit in - probably why they are common members of the seaweed community.

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Shrimp hides in the sargassum

One of the most common inhabitants of the sargassum community, the shrimp Latreutes...

An Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama) crosses a seagrass bed.

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Cuttlefish in Seagrass Bed

Squids, octopuses and cuttlefish, such as this Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia...

Seagrasses don't just provide shelter for free-swimming animals, but also are a habitat for non-moving organisms, such as these sea anemones.

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Anemone on Seagrass Blade

Seagrasses don't just provide shelter for free-swimming animals, but also are a...

Horseshoe Crab in Stage Harbor, Massachusetts

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Horseshoe Crab in Massachusetts

A small horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) rests on seaweed in Stage Harbor,...

Brown grass shrimp on a floating piece of seaweed.

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Brown Grass Shrimp

Another common species of sargassum shrimp, Leander...

Winner of the ‘best camoflauge’ contest, the nudibranch Scyllaea pelagica is betrayed only by motion.

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Seaslug Camouflages in Seaweed

Winner of the ‘best camouflage’ contest, the nudibranch Scyllaea pelagica...

A juvenile swimming crab sits on a bed of sargassum seaweed.

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Adult Swimming Crab

When they get larger, Portunus sayi are formidable predators, quick to consume any...