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Geophysicist Jian Lin of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studied the earthquake site that triggered 2004’s Indian Ocean tsunami. New tools to map seafloor earthquakes—like this robotic Autonomous Benthic Explorer—enhance our understanding of catastrophic events, such as the tsunami.
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Seafloor Earthquakes Study

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Dr. Valerie Paul, director of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Fla., examines tropical seaweeds on northwestern Guam’s coral reefs.
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Diving in Guam

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Photograph of a transparent comb jelly against a dark sea.
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Bioluminescent Comb Jelly

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Photograph of an orange many-armed sea star on an erect delicately-branched coral in a dark sea.
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Sea Star on Coral at Seamount

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A white coral (Corallium sp.) and two vase sponges (left) grow on an Atlantic Ocean seamount.
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Balanus Seamount

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A variety of corals cling to Manning Seamount, just off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
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Manning Seamount Deep Coral Community

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Notice the pink tentacles, which “recliners” used to filter feed.
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Recliner Rudists

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The frogfish is an expert hunter and can eat fish in 6 milliseconds.
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The Frogfish

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Olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) are the smallest marine turtle, living in warm waters close to shore as adults. Female olive ridleys take part in mass nestings that can involve 150,000 individual turtles crawling up a beach at night to find a
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Olive Ridley Turtle

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Laysan albatross with a chick in a volcano looking nest on the ground made of earth.
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Laysan Albatross with a Chick

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Artist Shih Chieh Huang's creations are often composed of lights, computer parts, and plastic refuse.
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Artist Shih Chieh Huang

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Smithsonian zoologist Dr. Steve Cairns named and described this deep-sea coral species, Stephanocyathus paliferus, now preserved at the National Museum of Natural History.
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Corals at the Smithsonian

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