Hannah Waters

Hannah Waters
Hannah Waters
Hannah Waters with the eyeball of a giant squid

Hannah Waters is a web produce, editor and writer for the Ocean Portal at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. She received Biology and Latin degrees from Minnesota’s Carleton College, sneaking off to the coasts in the summertime to study seabird colonies, conserve endangered piping plovers, and help lobstermen with their traps.

Before coming to the Smithsonian, Hannah wrote about biology and medicine for science magazines following a stint in a molecular biology lab researching the epigenetics of aging. She continues to write a science blog for Scientific American..

Collaborator Contributions

A satellite image of Hurricane Sandy, also known as the Frankenstorm, as it passed over Cuba and Jamaica on October 25, 2012.

Hurricane Sandy 'Frankenstorm' Over Cuba

What do you get when you mix together a hurricane, the remnants of a wintry midwestern storm, and cold Arctic air? The "Frankenstorm," which is what the US National Weather Service renamed Hurricane Sandy as it approached the US east coast during the week before Halloween in 2012. The combination of strange weather conditions may result in a powerful storm not unlike a nor'easter, with powerful winds and lots of rain for the mid-Atlantic and New England.

Coral sand is made up of tiny bits of coral and other ocean animals such as foraminifera, molluscs, and crustaceans.

Coral Sand Under a Microscope

Coral sand is aptly named: it's sand made up of tiny bits of coral and other ocean animals such as foraminifera, molluscs, and crustaceans. This picture -- at 100x magnification -- took 18th place in Nikon's 2012 Small World contest, which celebrates scientific photos taken under the microscope. It was taken by Dr.

A humboldt squid releases ink.

Humboldt Squid Shoots Ink

A humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) -- also known as the jumbo squid -- releases a cloud of ink at night in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. These large, carnivorous squids can reach more than 5 feet in length and travel in shoals of 1,000 squids.

<p><em>Stephanocyathus (A.) spiniger</em>, a solitary, deep-water stony coral species, has six long spines that slow it from sinking into soft substrates.</p>

Solitary Deep-water Corals

These corals from the Smithsonian collections are Stephanocyathus (A.) spiniger, a solitary, deep-water stony coral species. Around 74% of all deep-water corals are solitary, living as individual organisms instead of forming large colonies like most shallow-water corals. This one has six long spines that slow it from sinking into soft substrates.

Colorful corals are disappearing in the Great Barrier Reef.

Coral at the Great Barrier Reef

This colorful coral lives in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. On the whole, this coral reef is the largest single structure built by living organisms and can be seen from space! Although more than one-third of the reef is protected from fishing and other human impacts, it is still 50% smaller than it was just 30 years ago. Learn why it is disappearing from Nancy Knowlton, the Smithsonian's Sant Chair of Marine Science.

<p>The sea star <em>Odontaster validus</em> and sea urchin <em>Sterechinus neumayeri</em> are often found living in association with one another along the Antarctic <a href="/ocean-news/biodiversity-coastal-zone">coastline</a>.</p>

Sea Stars and Urchins off Antarctica

Sea stars (Odontaster validus) and sea urchins (Sterechinus neumayeri) spread over an algae-covered seafloor off the coast of Antarctica.

A longshoreman standing in front of a large pile of oyster shells on waterfront pier in Atlantic City in 1910.

Counting Mountains of Oysters

A longshoreman stands in front of a large pile of oyster shells on waterfront pier in Atlantic City in 1910. Back then, oysters were incredibly abundant. In the late 1800s, fishermen pulled in 10 million bushels of oysters each year but, by the mid-1900s, the catch had dropped to 1 or 2 million bushels each year because of disease and overharvesting.

An amphipod surrounded by her eggs, in the barrel of a salp.

Amphipod: Salp Invader

Can you spot the amphipod (Phronima atlantica) in the below photo? She's the transparent lobster-looking animal in the middle, surrounded by her own eggs -- inside a sac that once was the "barrel" of a salp. Mothers in the genus Phromina attack the barrel-shaped salps, hollowing out the inside of their sac body before laying their eggs inside.

<p><span style="line-height: 20px;">This sea butterfly (pteropod),&nbsp;</span><em><strong><a href="http://eol.org/pages/464954/overview">Atlanta peronii</a></strong></em><span style="line-height: 20px;">, is&nbsp;</span><strong><a href="http://www.planktonchronicles.org/en/episode/pteropods-swimming-mollusks">completely transparent</a></strong><span style="line-height: 20px;">, so you can see its organs.</span></p>

A Swimming Snail

Sea butterflies (also called pteropods) are sea snails aptly named: they are shelled marine snails, each with a foot like a wing, that swim in the water column like butterflies. This one, Atlanta peronii, is very small: the biggest specimen on record was less than half an inch (11 millimeters) long! They are completely transparent, so you can see all their organs, and have shiny black eyes.

This close-up view of salps, which have aggregated together into a long chain, have brilliant red guts from eating red plankton.

Close-up View of Salps

This close-up view of salps, which have aggregated together into a long chain, have brilliant red guts from eating red plankton. They were observed by researchers with the Census of Marine Zooplankton in the Sargasso Sea.

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