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Pink dye was released by CARTHE researchers on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and its movement tracked using underwater sensors, two small drones, a helicopter and a kite.

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How Does Seawater Move?

February 2014

Zooplankton are small—but do you know just how small? This drop of water smaller than the eye of a needle is magnified 20x and contains multitudes.

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Zooplankton in the Eye of a Needle

February 2014

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

February 2014

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

March 2015

These cells are from a pygmy sperm whale in a laboratory culture dish. The red dyed cell are forming into fat cells after exposure to endocrine disruptors.

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Cells Get Fat

January 2015

Methane-eating bacteria (also called methanotrophs) helped clean up the Gulf oil spill, such as Methylococcus capsulatus shown here.

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Oil Spill Methanotroph

January 2015

A cuttlefish eye

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Dazzling Eyes

February 2018

Photo of sockeye salmon spawning.

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Sockeye Salmon, Adams River, British Columbia, Canada

June 2011

This bubblegum coral has a fanlike shape. It is growing 1,310 m (4,298 ft) deep on the Davidson Seamount.

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Bubblegum Coral

June 2011

: Black corals often resemble bushes or trees. Their living tissue can be one of several colors. It’s the skeleton that is black.

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Black Corals

June 2011

Red coral necklaces in a display window. Harvesting deep-sea coral to produce jewelry like this threatens these ecosystems.

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Coral for Sale

October 2012

Lights attached to this deep-sea camera system enable scientists to capture detailed images of deep-sea corals in otherwise dark water.

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Deep-Sea Camera

June 2011