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A live coral polyp with turquoise tissue and brown tentacles closes its mouth (the slit at the center of the radiating ribs) tight.
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Closed-Mouth Coral

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Deep-sea Copepod Head
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Deep-sea Copepod Gets a Close-up

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Corallimorpharian
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Soft Coral Close-Up

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Dr. Maya Yamato and colleague John Ososky dissect the head of a deceased stranded fin whale in the Chesapeake Bay to examine soft tissue associated with the ears. In 2015, Yamato’s team of researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural H
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Learning From A Stranded Fin Whale

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Diagram showing gills on a crab absorbing nutrients
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Crab Gills Absorb Nutrients

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

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A humpback whale breaching in Antarctic waters.
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Humpback Whale in Antarctic Waters

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The Smithsonian Community Crochet Reef
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The Smithsonian Community Reef

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Crochet Jellyfish from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
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Crochet Jellyfish

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Sargassum fish from South Korea
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Sargassum fish from the Waters of South Korea

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As Dampier studied the plants he encountered in Australia, he wrote that they were “for the most part unlike any I had seen elsewhere.” In fact, nearly all the plants Dampier observed were entirely unknown to botanists at that time.
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More Australian Plants

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Oil on the water’s surface in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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Official Report on Gulf Oil Spill Released

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