Sea Creatures

There are many reasons to be worried about the state of the world’s oceans. But some scientists say it’s important to point to successes, in order to motivate people to take further, evidence-based action.

Seven Reasons to Be Optimistic About the World's Oceans

The health of the ocean is under threat, but these good-news stories deserve attention too

A perfect storm of high demand clashing with supply chain issues, worker shortage and delivery problems is forcing restaurant owners to raise seafood prices on their menus.

Seafood Prices Soar Amid Supply Chain Issues and Worker Shortage

As demand for fish rises, restaurants are slammed with employment losses, port congestion, lack of product, rising costs and shipment snags

While Spongebob and Patrick are friends in the animated world, the relationship between sea stars and sponges is not as friendly in real life. Sea stars are carnivores and are known to prey on sea sponges, crabs, oysters, clams, and coral.

See SpongeBob SquarePants' and Patrick Star's Real-Life Twins

The aquatic pals were discovered one mile deep in the Atlantic Ocean during a NOAA expedition

A present-day orange demosponge (Agelas oroides) can be found off the coast of Corfu, Greece. Research suggests sponges may have lived on Earth 890 million years ago.

This Sponge Fossil May Be the Earliest Record of Animal Life

The 890-million-year-old relic predates periods of extreme cold and the planet’s second oxygenation spike

New research finds that sea otters have extremely high metabolisms for their size to keep warm in the cold ocean waters they inhabit.

New Research

With This Metabolic Trick, Sea Otters Stay Warm Without Shivering

Researchers find that the metabolisms of these marine mammals go into overdrive to create heat in cool waters

A healthy crop of mussels lines the coast, exposed during low tide. Mussels will split open when they overheat, such as in June's heat wave.

Pacific Northwest and Canada's Crushing Heat Wave Cooks Millions of Sea Creatures

The estimated death toll could be more than a billion

A young green sea turtle with a solar-powered satellite tag that was used to track it to the Sargasso Sea.

New Research

Baby Sea Turtles Spend 'Lost Years' in Sargasso Sea

Researchers used tracking tags to solve the mystery of where young green sea turtles go after they hatch on the beach

Explore the true history and myths behind six “terrible” women, from the all-knowing Sphinx to the fire-breathing Chimera and the lesser-known shapeshifter Lamia.

Men Have Feared Women for Millennia. Just Look at the Monsters of Greek Mythology

A new collection of essays considers how the villainous women of classical antiquity, from Medusa to the Sphinx, resonate in contemporary Western society

"Active sleep" only lasted 40 seconds but cycled after 30 to 40 minutes of "quiet sleep". These patterns are similar pattern to how mammals experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Like Humans and Mammals, Octopuses May Have Two Stages of Sleep

Scientists do not know if octopuses dream in color, but they do change color while sleeping

The researchers found that 3D tracking tags picked up circling movements in various animals including, king penguins, tiger sharks, whale sharks and a Cuvier's beaked whale.

Researchers Are Investigating Why Marine Animals Swim in Perplexing Circles

Sea creatures may exhibit the spiraling behavior to navigate the ocean, for mating rituals, or to track prey

Ocean creatures are noisier than scientists first thought.

Women Who Shaped History

Biologist Marie Fish Catalogued the Sounds of the Ocean for the World to Hear

Scientists once thought marine life kept quiet. Then the Navy tapped an aptly named researcher with an open mind

Satellite images comparing bull kelp canopy cover (gold shading) 2008 and 2019 off the coast of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in Northern California.

New Research

Satellite Imagery Shows Northern California Kelp Forests Have Collapsed

Researchers say they're not sure these iconic coastal ecosystems will be able to make a comeback anytime soon

To aid the turtles in flushing out their digestive systems clogged with crude oil, workers at the sea turtle rescue are feeding them mayonnaise, which will break down the tar and make it easier to expel out.

Turtles Caught in Disastrous Oil Spill Treated With Mayonnaise

The tar-covered animals were given the condiment to flush out their digestive systems

By Monday evening, nearly 2,000 cold-stunned turtles were rescued from the Lower Laguna Madre Lagoon along the Texas Coast, where endangered green sea turtles call home.

Volunteers Scramble to Save Thousands of Sea Turtles Following Polar Vortex in Texas

As of last Wednesday, at least 3,500 sea turtles have been rescued from freezing waters in the midst record-breaking winter storm

The Hopkins’ rose nudibranch is a carnivorous sea slug that obtains its trademark color from eating pink moss animals.

14 Fun Facts About Bright Pink Animals

From jellyfish to millipedes, the rosy hues make rare but exciting appearances in nature

Sea whip coral can come in a variety of colors, from vivid reds and oranges, yellows to rich violets and can grow up to three feet long.

Tangled 'Cord' Mistaken for Litter Is Actually a Sea Creature

Along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, beachgoers mistake sea whip coral for discarded junk

The black sea cucumber Holothuria atra is found in shallow waters along reefs and uses sand to coat itself for camouflage and protection from the sun.

Sea Cucumber Poop Could Revitalize Coral Reefs

In one reef, three million sea cucumbers released 64,000 metric tons of nutrient-packed poo back into the ecosystem

The worms that burrowed in these tunnels may have been the ancestors of modern Bobbit worms, Eunice aphtoditois, and is the earliest known fossil of an ambush predator

Enormous Prehistoric Marine Worms' Lair Discovered Along Sea Floor

Trace fossils suggest that sand strikers drilled these underground tunnels

Lost Animals: Extinct, Endangered and Rediscovered Species by John Whitfield is just out from Smithsonian Books.

Ten Exquisite Creatures That Once Roamed the Earth

From Smithsonian Books, comes a magnificent tome to highlight evolution's greatest hits

One of the oldest living organisms on Earth is a colony of Neptune grass in this vast meadow of the plant in the Mediterranean Sea.

Planet Positive

Why Seagrass Could Be the Ocean's Secret Weapon Against Climate Change

A vast, mostly invisible ecosystem crucial to our life on Earth is in trouble, but efforts to save the 'prairies of the sea' are finally coming into focus

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