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“Moments after its eyes emerged from the water for a ‘spy hop,’ this whale slowly descended in my direction and came as close as six feet before it dove away.” -- Nature's Best photographer, Steffen Binke.Equipment Used to Capture the Shot: Niko
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Dwarf Minke Whale, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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This day octopus (Octopus cyanea) has shaped itself like seagrass or some coral so hide from predators or stalk prey.
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Camouflaged Octopus Blends In

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Two nurse sharks hover over a baited cage
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Oil, Oil Everywhere

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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

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Dr. Stephen Cairns, a Smithsonian research zoologist, studies deep-water corals.
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Dr. Stephen Cairns

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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
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A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum

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The East Rennell site in the Solomon Islands was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998. The site contains one of the largest raised coral atolls in the world, with a marine area extending three nautical miles to sea. The strong climatic effects
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East Rennell, Solomon Islands

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A birds eye view of the atoll
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Bikini Atoll

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A decomposing sea star loses its grip on a rock.
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Sickly Starfish: A Q&A with Dr. Chris Mah

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Inside the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason.
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Views from the ROV Jason

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A screenshot of some of Smithsonian's marine story windows in Google Earth
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What Lives in the Gulf of Mexico? Exploring Marine Collections on Google Earth

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Orangutan crabs are covered in thin reddish hairs, and are frequently found living in bubble coral.
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Orangutan Crabs from Komodo Island

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