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Sea Creatures

New Research

Warming Oceans Could Make These Seafood Favorites Toxic

New study links rising temperatures to dangerous toxins

Because Cystisoma live far from shore, scientists have just begun to study them in their natural habitat.

The Master of Disguise of the Ocean Reveals Its Secrets

A marine creature’s unusual defense is becoming perfectly clear

Ocean Legacy has a task not even Sisyphean would envy: picking up, sorting and recycling the vast amount of plastic that ends up on our shores.

Future of Conservation

Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold

From the common plastic water bottle to the shoes of tsunami victims, one recycling organization tries to find a home for all ocean refuse

Leah Desrochers, a former employee of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, holds a stranded Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Why Are Endangered Sea Turtles Showing Up Cold and Seemingly Lifeless on Northeastern Shores?

In the past three decades, scientists have confronted a worsening epidemic of stranded Kemp’s ridley sea turtles

Trending Today

Watch Rare Footage of the Mysterious Ghost Shark Gliding Through the Deep

Researchers spotted the grey-blue creature off the coast of California—far from its usual haunts in the Southern hemisphere

New species of scaleworm, Peinaleopolynoe.

New Research

Six New Deep Sea Creatures Just Discovered at Site Slated for Underwater Mining

Seafloor hot springs are rife with life

This year, the Great Barrier Reef was found to be hiding another reef beneath it.

Top Eight Ocean Stories That Made Waves in 2016

2016 wasn’t all bad: Stubborn environmental problems were livened up thanks to new solutions, “gee whiz” discoveries and mysterious orbs

The shipworm, scourge of sailors everywhere, is actually a kind of ghostly saltwater clam.

How a Ship-Sinking Clam Conquered the Ocean

The wood-boring shipworm has bedeviled humans for centuries. What’s its secret?

Mustard gas from wars past is decaying in the world's oceans—but scientists don't yet know how dangerous it could be. Here, U.S. Navy ship prepare for scheduled deployment in the Pacific Ocean in 2014.

Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean After World War II Could Threaten Waters Worldwide

How worried should we be? Chemists are racing the clock to find out

A rare book depicting the sea monk by Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566) in the Smithsonian Libraries dates to 1554.

Renaissance Europe Was Horrified by Reports of a Sea Monster That Looked Like a Monk Wearing Fish Scales

Something fishy this way comes

A remote-controlled hexacopter captured this image of two northern resident killer whales photographed from 100 feet. Scientists use the unmanned drone as a cost-effective, non-intrusive method for monitoring the health of whales.

How Drones in the Sky Unlock Secrets of the Sea

Researchers are using aerial technology to track coastal erosion, map coral reefs and even give whales a breathalyzer

Kure Atoll, the northernmost reef in the Hawaiian archipelago, hosts mesophotic reefs with the most species unique to a specific location found in any marine ecosystem on Earth.

New Research

Here’s What Scientists Found in Hawaii’s Mysterious “Twilight Zone”

Deep coral reefs reveal their secrets in a study two decades in the making

The rare green sea turtle, shown here on a volcanic beach in the Pacific, made a mysterious reappearance on Bermuda's shores in 2015.

Bermuda

The Strange Reappearance of the Once-Vanished Green Sea Turtle

It’s a conservation biology riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a hard shell

A reef off the coast of Bonaire

Jacques Cousteau’s Grandson Is 3D Printing Coral Reefs

Fabien Cousteau, descendant of the famous sea explorer, is working on a project to bring 3D printed coral reefs to the Caribbean island of Bonaire

A hammerhead caught on a longline.

Is It Too Late to Save Red Sea Sharks?

With anti-fishing laws virtually unenforced, sharks off the coast of Saudi Arabia are being fished to death

The Billion Oyster Project is trying to help restore oysters to New York City's waterways.

Cool Finds

Thousands of Toilets Submerged in NY Harbor Go From Bathroom Throne to Oyster Home

It’s much too soon to eat them, though

An Airbus A300 jumbo jet like this has been sunk off the Turkish coast to create an artificial reef.

Trending Today

Turkey Sunk an Airplane to Turn It Into a Reef

An Airbus jumbo jet will soon become home to all sorts of sea life

These comical looking mollusks are common to the Caribbean. Their eyes poke out on stalks from inside large, pink, beautiful shells, and they move along one “step” at a time, with a lift and a flop, leaving tracks behind in the sand.

An Elegant Tool Called Squidpop That Scientists Want to Crowdsource

The device is so easy to use, researchers are asking for a “squidpop blitz” for World Oceans Day

Collector urchins can protect themselves from the sun by covering themselves with bits of algae, coral and other detritus.

Urchin Sunscreen and Other Ways Animals Beat the Burn

Species have come up with a variety of ways to protect themselves from the sun

The body of a young female beaked whale washed ashore in South Australia

Cool Finds

Rare Beaked Whale Washes Ashore in Australia

Sporting unusual teeth, the young female offers researchers a chance to study an elusive cetacean

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