Books, Film & The Arts

EDUCATOR RESOURCES

LATEST TODAY'S CATCH

Adélie Penguins Face Off

Apr 15, 2013 - 10:25AMThese cute Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are actually having a bit of a spat. In the spring (October for them), the penguins form breeding colonies on rocky coasts with thousands of birds in a group. Krill, a tiny...

Harp Seal, Prince Edward Island National Park, Canada
Apr 3, 2013 - 9:04AM
Harp seals are protected in the United States by the Marine Mammal...

Grey Reef Shark, West New Britain, Father Reefs, Papua New Guinea
Mar 28, 2013 - 9:45AM
Gray reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) are known for being active at...

SPOTLIGHT

Five Questions for Callum Roberts, Author and Professor

Callum Roberts is a professor of marine conservation at the University of York in England and an author. His first book,...
When Art Meets Science: Exhibition Inspired by Bioluminescence
Aug 25 2011 - 12:45pm
Artist Shih Chieh Huang spent a good part of 2007 exploring specimens of deep-ocean animals found in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History. He was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow and was investigating the unusual evolutionary adaptations that allow these creatures to live...
The Coral Gardener
Mar 22 2011 - 10:18am
A still from The Coral Gardener, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital. The film is about Austin Bowden-Kerby, a man who gardens corals to help rebuild reefs.
One fish, two fish, crawfish, bluefish
May 17 2011 - 11:35am
Visit the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum's sustainable seafood website for more seafood information, including recipes from One fish, two fish, crawfish, bluefish.
Sweetlips, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Mar 18 2013 - 8:38am
The larger fish in this picture are called sweetlips (Plectorhinchus) because of their big, fleshy lips. There are over thirty species of sweetlips, which tend to live on coral reefs in small groups. 
Grey Seal Strikes a Pose
Jun 29 2012 - 8:42pm
A Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) poses in the waters off Acadia National Park in Maine. Grey seals live on both coasts of the Northern Atlantic, with breeding colonies in Great Britain, Ireland, and down the eastern coast of North America from Canada down to New Jersey. They used to be hunted in...
Giant Pacific Manta Ray, Revillagigedos Islands, Mexico
Dec 23 2010 - 2:52pm
“Manta rays sometimes approach divers; an up-close encounter with such a huge, peaceful animal is unforgettable!” -- Nature's Best photographer, Deborah Smrekar. See more beautiful ocean photos in our slideshow of winners from the 2010 Nature's Best Ocean Views photo contest.
Protected Pigfish and Mao-Mao School
Mar 13 2013 - 7:21am
Red Pigfish (Bodianus unimaculatus) and Blue Mao-Mao (Scorpis violacea) school at the edge of a cavern in New Zealand's Poor Knights Islands. Read photographer Brian Skerry's story behind this photo on the Ocean Portal blog.
Crochet Coral Reef Community Window Display
Oct 14 2010 - 5:48pm
Local yarn and craft shops were highly involved in creating the Smithsonian Community Reef—the local community’s accompaniment to the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef exhibit. The HCCR, created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring, was on display in the Sant Ocean Hall from...
Dwarf Minke Whale, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Dec 23 2010 - 4:11pm
“Moments after its eyes emerged from the water for a ‘spy hop,’ this whale slowly descended in my direction and came as close as six feet before it dove away.” -- Nature's Best photographer, Steffen Binke. See more beautiful ocean photos in our slideshow of winners from the 2010 Nature's Best...
Your Ocean Poems
May 4 2011 - 5:15pm
May is here and that means National Poetry Month is officially over. As promised, we're going to highlight a few of the submissions we've received from our call for your ocean poems. Sailors, divers, and sunbathers all penned poems. Some praised the big blue's beauty. Others bemoaned its...
Chinook Salmon: One Species at a Time
Jul 11 2011 - 2:17pm
Can painted wooden fish on a schoolyard fence change human behavior and help clean up the ocean for the real salmon? Stream of Dreams in British Columbia thinks so, and a lot of wooden fish and some 100,000 school kids later, they have some intriguing results to show for their effort.
Great Barracuda, Witu Islands, Papua New Guinea
Oct 18 2012 - 12:22pm
“A four-foot-long barracuda is visible flashing past me, with the sky and the lights of my boat seen above.” -- Nature's Best photographer, Yeang H. Ch’ng. See more beautiful ocean photos in our slideshow of winners from the 2010 Nature's Best Ocean Views photo contest.
2011 Student Summit on the Ocean Coasts Webcast Part 5 Jean-Michel Cousteau
2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 5: Jean-Michel Cousteau
Mar 28 2011 - 3:15pm
Recorded on Feb. 15, 2011, award-winning ocean filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau addresses students and educators at the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts. Cousteau, president of the Ocean Futures Society, discusses climate change, marine debris, and free diving with great white sharks....
Sperm Whale, Dominica
Jun 21 2011 - 12:28pm
“For the past few years I have visited the island of Dominica to enjoy its beauty both above and below the surface. This photo was taken during a lucky encounter with a member of the ‘group of 7’ pod. A very young calf measuring about 25 feet long came over and played with us for well over 45...
The Plastiki Sailboat
Mar 22 2011 - 9:27am
A still from, Voyage of the Plastiki, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.
Five Questions for Callum Roberts, Author and Professor
Jul 18 2012 - 4:51pm