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Close-up photograph of a large red cuttlefish.

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Australian Giant Cuttlefish

August 2012

S. pharaonis. Photographed in an aquarium at the visitor's center for the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Oregon State University.

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Pharaoh Cuttlefish

January 2010

Scientists attached this Crittercam to a sperm whale in an effort to film a giant squid in its natural habitat.

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Crittercam

January 2010

Rudist clams are mollusks that went extinct about 65 million years ago.

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Rudist Clams

January 2010

Ghost crabs are often seen scuttling quickly along beaches, and can be difficult to photograph in the wild. They are common in Moorea where this specimen was collected.

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Ghost Crab Close Up

October 2015

Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells. This specimen shows the crab without its customary borrowed shelter.

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Hermit Crab Without a Shell

May 2012

Male fiddler crabs, like this one collected on Moorea, wave their enlarged claw as way of signaling to other crabs, especially during mating season.

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Fiddler Crab

July 2012

This brightly colored squat lobster collected in Moorea is a common find among the coral heads. Although called lobsters, this group of crustaceans is more closely related to hermit crabs than to true lobsters.

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Squat Lobster

January 2010

A view of the Pacific from Moorea, where scientists are working to catalog the life forms of the entire ecosystem.

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Marine Biology on the Island of Moorea

January 2010

Researchers adopted the “yabbie pump,” the long silver tool shown here, from Australian fishing gear.

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Collecting Shallow-Water Specimens with the "Yabbie Pump"

January 2010

This halimeda crab’s disguise did not fool researchers in Moorea where it was collected.

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Halimeda Crab

January 2010

Photograph of a bristly brown and white worm, with one end pressed against a pale green coral.

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Fireworm Takes on Fire Coral

September 2017