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A woman standing in front of a barge

Article

Mary Rice: A Force of Nature

Dr. Mary Esther Rice spent her career pushing back against obstacles and refusing...

August 2021

the skull of a mosasaur

Article

Meals of the Mighty Mosasaur

Between 100 and 65 million years ago, at the time when dinosaurs reigned on land,...

November 2018

Fossil mosasaur skull and partial skeleton sitting in what looks like the dirt it was excavated from.

Article

If You Build An Ocean, Sea Monsters Will Come

Building a productive ocean is complicated. The process is long (on the order of...

October 2018

The Komodo National Park site in Indonesia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991. The site hosts "Komodo dragons" (Varanus komodoensis), a unique species that exists nowhere else in the world and is of great interest to scientists studying evolu

Article

Tunicates—Not So Spineless Invertebrates

There are thousands of marine invertebrate animals in the ocean, from small to...

June 2018

An ancient whale ancestor

video

Evolution of Whales Animation

Whales have existed for millions of years. Watch this animation, from the Sant...

Wed, 09/30/2009 - 11:21

A rendering of an underwater marine scene from the Cambrian Period, featuring an arthropod, annelids, and other animals.

slideshow

A Collection of Cambrian Fossils

When you're standing in a museum surrounded by fossils, you can almost imagine...

Tue, 10/01/2013 - 10:03

Small red hyperiid.

slideshow

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

Hyperiid amphipods are small crustaceans related to sand fleas and distantly...

Tue, 08/19/2014 - 10:47

A team of scientists explore the Arctic ocean.

slideshow

Under Arctic Ice

Hidden beneath Arctic ice is a world few have ever seen. Take the icy plunge with a...

Tue, 01/04/2011 - 14:48

A rendering of an underwater marine scene from the Cambrian Period, featuring an arthropod, annelids, and other animals.

Photo

Cambrian Period (542 – 488 Million Years Ago)

The basic body plans of all modern animals were set during the Cambrian Period, 542...

Photograph of the underside of a gelatinous octopus with a bright yellow bioluminescent ring around her mouth.

slideshow

Bioluminescent Animals Photo Gallery

Bioluminescence is one of the more captivating adaptations that have evolved in...

Thu, 08/18/2011 - 16:24

An artistic rendering of an ocean landscape as it may have looked during the Archean Eon.

slideshow

The Ocean Throughout Geologic Time, An Image Gallery

Evidence shows that life probably began in the ocean at least 3.5 billion years...

Tue, 09/20/2011 - 15:30

This new species of lobster (Dinochelus ausubeli) is blind and has bizarre claws. It was discovered about 300 meters (984 feet) deep in the Philippine Sea by a Census of Marine Life expedition.

slideshow

Deep Ocean Diversity Slideshow

Deep sea animals have to live in a very cold, dark, and high-pressure environment...

Tue, 12/08/2009 - 15:08