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A rendering of an ocean scene as it may have looked 65 million years ago, when an astroid fell to Earth and triggered a mass extinction event.
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Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary (65 Million Years Ago)

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A photo of a squid using bioluminescence to hide in the deep sea.
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Midwater Squid, Abralia veranyi

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What is coral? The answer is coral is an animal. This cutaway diagram of a coral polyp shows the location of its photosynthetic algae, or zooxanthellae, which coral needs to survive.
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What Is Coral? A Coral Polyp and Zooxanthellae

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Squid expert Dr. Clyde Roper examines specimens stored in jars in the Smithsonian collection.
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Dr. Clyde Roper

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Phoenix’s entanglement badly injured her right lip, leaving a distinctive scar from that ordeal.
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Beware of Fishing Gear

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This whale is entangled in fishing gear. The inset shows how special fishing lines allow whales to escape such accidental entrapments.
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Fishing Gear Solutions

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Illustration of a four-legged proto-whale with webbed feet.
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Early Whale with Webbed Feet

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A rendering of an underwater marine scene from the Cambrian Period, featuring an arthropod, annelids, and other animals.
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Cambrian Period (542 – 488 Million Years Ago)

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A rendering of an underwater marine scene depicting life ~145-65 million years ago, when rudist clams were the major reef builders.
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Carbonate Reef (Cretaceous Period: 145 - 65 Million Years Ago)

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a single celled organism
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Tiny Ciliate

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A cameraman navigates a smack of sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) in Monterey Bay. Sea nettle blooms have become more common in recent years.
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Cameraman with Sea Nettles

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Corals, sponges, and algae are the major components of most coral reef communities as shown in this picture.
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Making Science Sing: The Longest Time (Coral Triangle Edition)

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