Oceans

The fin of a great white shark being tagged by researchers off the coast of Southern California.

Record Number of Great Whites Tagged in Southern California

Researchers working in Southern California tagged 38 sharks this year, more than triple last year’s total

Of the deep-water samples collected by this team, they identified 11 fish families, 11 genera and eight species. This fish, from the genus Leptochilichthys, was discovered at nearly 3,000 feet deep.

Scientists Collect Floating Bits of DNA to Study Deep Sea Creatures

Analyzing seawater samples reveals what critters lurk there—without having to see them

Scientists caught a juvenile female vaquita in October of 2017 and released her after she showed signs of stress.

Vaquita Genome Offers Hope for Species' Survival

A new study suggests the marine mammal can recover naturally if illegal fishing is eliminated

A satellite image shows the A68a iceberg in the lower left. The chunk of ice looks a bit like a pointed finger, and scientists say it's currently on a path to collide with the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.

Delaware-Sized Iceberg Could Decimate Wildlife on South Atlantic Island

Iceberg A68a is on track to hit the British Territory of South Georgia, where it could complicate access to food for millions of seals and seabirds

More ships are cruising through Arctic waters but when disaster strikes, there is little information on how it might affect the environment, and little preparation for quick action.

The Race to Study Arctic Waters

In the far north, researchers are scrambling to record baseline environmental data as communities brace for future shipping disasters

A still from the first ever video of a live ram's head squid in the wild.

See Strange Squid Filmed in the Wild for the First Time

The elusive creature is called the ram’s horn squid after a spiral-shaped internal shell that is often found by beachcombers

New research identifies a previously unknown type of nerve cell inside octopus suckers that the cephalopods use like taste buds.

Octopuses Taste Food With Special Cells in Their Suckers

New study reveals biology behind one of the octopus' many super powers

A swordfish photographed underwater southwest of Tampa, Florida.

Shark Stabbed Through the Heart and a Swordfish Is to Blame

Recent research documents the latest instance of a strange but not unheard-of phenomenon in which swordfish impale sharks with their bills

Damselfish typically live in the nooks and crannies of coral reefs. But do you have anything with more of an open concept?

If a Fish Could Build Its Own Home, What Would It Look Like?

By exposing fish to experimental constructions, scientists hope to find out if replicating coral reefs is really the way to go

A team of scientists on board a research vessel were on a year-long expedition to map the seafloor surrounding Australia when they discovered the reef about 80 miles off the coast of Cape York, Queensland.

A Coral Reef Taller Than the Eiffel Tower Was Just Discovered Off the Coast of Australia

A team of scientists mapped the underwater landscape and its bustling sea life using a robot

For "Overboard," artist Andy Yoder created more than 200 Nike Air Jordan sneakers using garbage.

Artist Fashions Nike Air Jordan 5s From Trash

Sculptor Andy Yoder's latest exhibition is a nod to the Great Shoe Spill of 1990 and the advances in ocean science that came from it

Satellite records show a 13 percent decrease in sea ice per decade since the 1980s.

Arctic Sea Ice Fails to Refreeze by Late October, Setting a New Record

At this rate, the Arctic will experience its first ice-free summer as early as 2035

To get a glimpse of what's happening in the deep blue, scientists deployed instruments to measure changes on the sea floor. This hydrothermal vent exists at 3,300 meters deep.

The Deepest, Darkest, Most Frigid Depths of the Ocean Are Warming

Thermometers anchored to the seafloor revealed that even the deep sea is not impervious to rising global temperatures

The barriers are designed to stay at the bottom of the lagoon until they are activated, fill with air and rise to the surface to seal off the lagoon's inlets.

Venice's Controversial Inflatable Floodgates Save City for the Second Time

The barriers may not be permanent solutions, but they've now protected Venice from two floods this month

Fish and corals on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Between a quarter and a third of all marine species spend some part of their life cycle in coral reefs.

Climate Change Has Killed Half of the Great Barrier Reef's Corals

A new study finds corals on the Australian mega-reef declined 50 percent between 1995 and 2017

Theories surrounding the source of the pollution are still swirling.

Hundreds of Dead Animals Wash Ashore on Russian Beach After Reports of Mysterious, Toxic Sludge

Investigations are still underway, but experts theorize that leaked hazardous materials from military bases are to blame

The Pacific bigfin squid Magnapinna pacifica in the Smithsonian collections that Mike Vecchione and Richard E. Young used to describe the deepest-known species of squid.

The Wonderfully Weird World of Deep-Sea Squids

For this month's "Meet a SI-entist," the Smithsonian's curator of cephalopods says these are the "intelligent invertebrates"

Blue whales are the world’s largest animals, and they can grow to the length of three school buses in a row.

Blue Whales Sing All Day When They Migrate and All Night When They Don't

Their mysterious songs could be an 'acoustic signature of migration'

Researchers with OCEARCH caught a 17-foot-long great white shark on the morning of October 2.

Researchers Catch and Tag 17-Foot 'Matriarch of the Sea,' a 50-Year-Old Great White Shark

The OCEARCH team named the shark Nukumi, the Mi'kmaq people’s word for 'grandmother'

The squalene industry kills around 3 million sharks each year, and if squalene is used in a vaccine to treat everyone in the world, up to half a million sharks will be killed.

500,000 Sharks Could Be Killed in the Race to Produce a Covid-19 Vaccine

Vaccine developers seek a compound called squalene produced in shark livers

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