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A coral reef covered by silt and sand in the Western Pacific Ocean.
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Coral Reef Covered by Silt and Sand

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A Coral Reef Watch satellite monitors the temperature of the world’s oceans.
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Coral Reef Watch Satellite

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The sun sets over the Smithsonian’s marine field station at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. For more than three decades, it has been home to the Smithsonian’s Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystem Program.
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Sunset at Carrie Bow Cay

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On Moorea, an island in French Polynesia, researchers are striving to complete a biocode—a DNA catalog of every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers.
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The Island of Moorea

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A brown sea hare sits in shallow ocean water.
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Sea Hare in the Intertidal Zone

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

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Throughout their lifecycle, jellyfish take on two different body forms: medusa and polyps. Polyps can reproduce asexually by budding, while medusae spawn eggs and sperm to reproduce sexually.
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Jellyfish Lifecycle and Reproduction

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A white crab hides among coral polyps of the same color.
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White Xenia Crab from Indonesia

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Comb jellies (such as this Bolinopsis species) are named for their combs: the rows of cilia lining their bodies that propel them through the ocean.
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Ctenophore Combs - Close Up

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A shining jingle shell on the sand.
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Jingle Shells

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The mandarinfish lives in western Pacific tropical coral reef ecosystems and lacks the scales that are typically seen on bony fish.
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Mandarinfish Duo

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Seahorses are the only fish species that can hold your hand! Unlike most fish that use their tails for swimming, seahorses, such as this big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis), use their monkey-like tails to hold onto objects in their environment, li
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Seahorses Have Monkey-Like Tails

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