Media Gallery: Photos Oldest

  • <p>This colony of <em>Rosacea</em> may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually a large group of smaller siphonophores clustered and living together.</p>

    Jellyfish, or Siphonophore Colony?
    Mar 4 2013 - 10:11am
    This colony of Rosacea may look like a single jellyfish, but it is actually a large group of smaller siphonophores clustered and living together. In fact, the zooids (individual siphonophores...
  • “It’s quite normal for this type of goby to sit still on hard coral like this. I spotted the first of these very small fish and set up my camera for the shot. Just as I was about to take a picture, a second goby came out of nowhere and sat on the first one. I quickly corrected the frame and took two or three shots before both of them disappeared. It was an incredible moment.”-- Nature's Best Photographer, Tobias Friedrich

    Gobies on Coral, Near Marsa Alam, Egypt
    Mar 5 2013 - 10:26am
    Gobies make up the largest family (Gobiidae) of fishes in the world, with over 2,000 species. In this large family you can also find the smallest fish. The gobies in this photo are about one inch...
  • This 1874 photo of a squid draped over a bathtub was the first ever taken of a giant squid. It belonged to Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland.

    First Giant Squid Photo
    Mar 6 2013 - 8:27am
    This 1874 photo of a squid draped over a bathtub was the first ever taken of a giant squid. It belonged to the Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland. More about the giant squid can be found in the...
  • <p>Comb jellies (such as this <em>Bolinopsis</em> species) are named for their combs: the rows of cilia lining their bodies that propel them through the ocean.</p>

    Ctenophore Combs - Close Up
    Mar 7 2013 - 10:11am
    Comb jellies (such as this Bolinopsis species) are named for their combs: the rows of cilia lining their bodies that propel them through the ocean. Read more about jellyfish and comb jellies. 
  • The mandarinfish lives in western Pacific tropical coral reef ecosystems and lacks the scales that are typically seen on bony fish.

    Mandarinfish
    Mar 8 2013 - 10:57am
    These beautiful mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) are covered in bright blue, red, yellow and orange waves. What they lack, however, are traditional fish scales. They live in western Pacific...
  • <p>Fish swim around the wreck of the <strong><em><a href="http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/battleoftheatlantic2/bedfordshire.html">HMT Bedfordshire</a></em></strong>, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II, and sunk off the coast of North Carolina.</p>

    Fish Swim Around Shipwreck
    Mar 11 2013 - 7:27am
    Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II. Originally part of Great Britain's Royal Navy...
  • <p>Stinging cells (nematocysts) line the tentacles of this moon jelly (<strong><em><a href="http://eol.org/pages/203484/overview">Aurelia aurita</a></em></strong>).</p>

    Jellyfish Tentacles Close Up
    Mar 12 2013 - 7:35am
    Stinging cells (nematocysts) line the tentacles of this moon jelly (Aurelia aurita). Upon contact with prey or a predator, a venom-laden harpoon shoots out to stun or kill. Read more about jellyfish...
  • <p>Red Pigfish&nbsp;and Blue Mao-Mao&nbsp;school at the edge of a cavern in New Zealand's Poor Knights Islands. Read photographer <strong><a href="/blog/behind-photo-primal-ocean">Brian Skerry's story behind this photo</a></strong>.</p>

    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...
  • <p>A <em>Hubrechtia</em> ribbon worm, found after a long day of searching in mud flats in Fort Pierce, Florida.</p>

    A Ribbon Worm From the Mud Flats
    Mar 14 2013 - 9:46am
    The over 1,000 species of ribbon worms (Nemertea) are mostly found in marine environments (like the Hubrechtia found in a mud flat, in the photo). These worms have both a mouth and an anus (unlike...
  • The spiral-tufted bryozoan could hold a medicine for Alzheimer's and cancer.

    A Bryozoan's Medical Endosymbiont
    Mar 14 2013 - 10:40am
    The spiral-tufted bryozoan (Bugula neritina) is being studied for a potential Alzheimer's disease and cancer drug -- but it's not the bryozoan that makes the chemical. The chemical, found in the...
  • A purple hard coral releases bundles of pink eggs glued together with sperm.

    Coral Spawning
    Mar 15 2013 - 9:07am
    Corals are sedentery animals, so how do they reproduce? One way is sexually through spawning, when the corals release eggs and sperm into the water (often at the same time due to some sort of trigger...

  • Sea Potato
    Mar 17 2013 - 8:11am
    This sea potato (Echinocardium cordatum) looks similar to its root vegetable namesake, but it's a sea urchin! The spines on this urchin are more hair-like than the spikes seen on some more...