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Basket Star

Deep sea dwellers, the basket star uses its long, twisting arms to snag zooplankton...

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Starfish Feet

Sea stars creep along the seafloor using hundreds of little tube feet. These tube...

Personal Perspectives

On Biodiversity: Understanding its Meaning and Importance

The ocean is home to a phenomenal diversity of marine organisms. They have evolved...

Article

A Plague of Sea Stars

Sea stars are important members of marine ecosystems, especially in the tropics. We...

Personal Perspectives

The Invisible Loss: The Impacts of Oil You Do Not See

Since late April, the world has watched a devastating oil spill from a BP drilling...

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...

A Brittle Star May Be a Coral’s Best Friend

Five thousand feet (1,524 meters) beneath the sea in the Gulf of Mexico, an...

Article

Seamounts: Underwater Oases

Thousands of seamounts—most of them undersea volcanoes—tower above the muddy...

Article

Sickly Starfish: A Q&A with Dr. Chris Mah

Since summer 2013, starfish along both coasts of the United States have been dying...

Personal Perspectives

The Discovery of Two Extreme Sea Stars

Recently, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History researcher Chris Mah and...

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Oil’s Impact on Marine Invertebrates

In the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, what is the effect of oil on invertebrates...