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Oceans

Fish caught for drying in a village in Bangladesh

New Research

Overfishing Has Been Even Worse Than We Thought

Official counts previously overlooked fish as bycatch, small-scale fishing and illegal fishing

Crews abandon their ships during the Great Whaling Disaster of 1871.

Cool Finds

Remnants of a Whaling Disaster Have Been Discovered off the Coast of Alaska

A catastrophe wiped out an entire whaling fleet 144 years ago, now researchers have found some of the wrecks’ remains

Our Changing Seas III, 2014

Art Meets Science

Does This Sculpture Depict a Coral Reef Collapsing or Recovering?

Artist Courtney Mattison’s spiral-shaped piece explores the uncertain future for coral reefs

These cracks hint at subsurface seas.

Does Icy Pluto Have a Hidden Ocean? New Horizons Offers New Clues

Data from the NASA probe are helping to build a solid case for a liquid ocean inside the tiny, distant world

Where are the whales?

Trending Today

Hawaii’s Humpback Whales Have Gone Missing

Scientists expect about 10,000 whales to visit Hawaii’s tropical waters this winter—but they’re taking their time

Do these satellite sea surface images look similar? Experts think so. The image of the Pacific Ocean on the left was taken recently. To the right is a sea surface image taken in December 1997.

Trending Today

This Year’s El Niño Looks Menacingly Familiar

The world is bracing for record rains and droughts

Cool Finds

A Giant Squid Visits a Japanese Harbor

These denizens of the deep usually lurk between 2,000 to 3,000 feet below the surface

Cool Finds

Oysters Could Save Staten Island From the Next Hurricane Sandy

A living breakwater could prevent future flooding while cleaning polluted waters

This photo of two short-nosed sea snakes alerted researchers to the species' survival, even though they were thought to be extinct for 15 years.

New Research

They’re Back: Supposedly Extinct Sea Snakes Have Been Found in Australia

Nearly 15 years later and about 1,000 miles away from the last sighting, the snakes could be making a comeback

Top Nine Ocean Stories That Had Us Talking in 2015

From fossil whales to adorable octopuses, here are some of the marine headliners that caught our attention this year

Logs like this one are being digitized in museums all over New England and used to help scientists understand climate change.

Trending Today

Logbooks From 19th Century Whaling Ships Could Help Climate Change Scientists

A new crowdsourcing project lets amateur enthusiasts contribute, too

Part of the Capitol Christmas Tree's splendor comes from marine debris collected along the Alaska coast.

Cool Finds

The Capitol’s Christmas Tree Is (Partially) Made of Trash

Marine debris bedecks a 74-foot tree from Alaska

Divers approach a bull shark in the water off Mauritius. Though environmental conditions are much the same in Mauritius and neighboring La Réunion, the latter is one of the most dangerous shark-attack spots in the world.

Age of Humans

Why Is This Indian Ocean Island a Hot Spot for Shark Attacks?

La Réunion has seen way more attacks than its neighbor Mauritius, and scientists are struggling to figure out why

The "Great Garuda" seawall will be shaped like Indonesia's national symbol—a mythical, birdlike creature.

Cool Finds

Jakarta Is Building a Gigantic Bird-Shaped Seawall

But will the Great Garuda project be enough to save a sinking city?

An illustration shows what Shonisaurus popularis might have looked like in the late Triassic.

What Killed These Marine Reptiles Found in a Nevada Ghost Town?

Paleontologists are going high tech to solve the mystery of a mass ichthyosaur death near the old mining town of Berlin

A NOAA archaeologist examines the wreck of Two Brothers in Hawaii.

Cool Finds

NOAA Made a Sequel to ‘In the Heart of the Sea’

Because the story that inspired Moby-Dick is just the beginning

Microplastic poses a growing concern in oceans and other aquatic habitats.

Trending Today

Five Things to Know About Congress’ Vote to Ban Microbeads

Included as exfoliators in many common soaps and cosmetics, microbeads now pollute waterways worldwide

An illustration of a Spanish galleon at the time when European travelers searched for treasure across the seas.

Cool Finds

Legendary Shipwreck May Have Been Found off the Colombia Coast

The sunken treasure on the Spanish galleon San Jose could be worth up to $17 billion

A blue whale’s tale waits for student volunteers to begin cutting away blubber and flesh from the bones. The complete skeleton will eventually be displayed in Newport, Oregon.

What a Dead Blue Whale Can Teach Us About Life in the Ocean, and About Ourselves

Scientists and spectators gathered on an Oregon beach for the rare, messy, mesmerizing sight of a whale being carefully dismantled for museum display

A large display case holds the fossil of a plesiosaur at the Natural History Museum in London.

New Research

A Long-Necked Marine Reptile Is the First Known to Filter Feed Like a Whale

The bizarre Mortuneria used sieve-like teeth to strain tasty morsels from the muddy Cretaceous seafloor

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