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The Ocean is important to all life, including yours. Join us.

Welcome to the Ocean Portal – a unique, interactive online experience that inspires awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the world’s Ocean, developed by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and more than 20 collaborating organizations.

You are among the first wave of visitors to the Portal, an experience which we hope will empower you to shape and share your personal Ocean experiences, knowledge, and perspectives.

The input you provide through feedback modules and comment boxes will help us to shape future Ocean Portal content and functionality. Like the Ocean, which is made of millions of marine species, your comments, questions, and clicks will help to bring the Portal closer to the vastness and variety of the Ocean itself.

Collaborator Contributions

The circles on this piece of sperm whale skin are giant squid sucker marks.

Giant Squid Sucker Marks

Many sperm whales stranded on beaches or caught by whalers exhibit telltale circular scars like these. Only one thing could have made them: the strong suckers that line the giant squid’s eight arms and two long feeding tentacles. Older sperm whales have so many scars that they overlap each other. Learn more about the over-sized anatomy of the giant squid in this video with Smithsonian scientist Dr. Clyde Roper.

This lizardfish rests on the bottom, waiting to snatch prey.

Deepsea Lizardfish

This lizardfish (Bathysaurus ferox) rests on the ocean bottom with its head slightly elevated—waiting to snatch prey with its large mouth and sharp teeth. It lives at depths of 600-3,500 meters (1,969-11,483 feet) and grows up to 64 centimeters (25.2 inches) long.

Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells. This specimen shows the crab without its customary borrowed shelter.

Hermit Crab Without a Shell

Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells.  They are picky home owners and they will trade shells with other crabs to get a better fit or a less damaged shell. This specimen shows the crab without its customary borrowed shelter. Learn more in our Scientists Catalog Life on the Island of Moorea section.

Extreme close-up of great white shark skin denticles.

Biomimicry Shark Denticles

Great White Sharks are stealthy hunters and the secret is in their skin. Shark skin is covered by tiny flat V-shaped scales, called dermal denticals, that are more like teeth than fish scales. These denticles decrease drag and turbulence, allowing the shark to swim faster and more quietly. Olympian swimsuit designers have taken a page from the shark’s playbook and created a fabric that mimics the exact proportion of the shark’s denticles, hugely improving a swimmer’s speed.

Macroscopic Algae (Ventricaria ventricosa)

Bubble Algae (Ventricaria ventricosa)

Macroscopic algae (Ventricaria ventricosa), also known as "bubble algae" or "sea pearl," is widespread algal species that can withstand low light. Each of the bubbles is a single cell, making it one of the largest single-celled organisms known, reaching up to 5 centimeters in diameter. They are often found in Mangroves forests, growing on the mangrove roots, and some people consider it to be a pest.

Woods Hole researchers sample oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico

Woods Hole Scientists Respond to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Woods Hole scientists operate an ROV to sample the oil spewing from the ruptured Macondo Well.  After the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) administrators and investigators were among those whom BP and the federal government called for advice and assistance.  

EPA Pick 5 for the Environment website screenshot

Pick Five for the Environment

The Environmental Protection Agency's Pick Five for the Environment website offers users personal action ideas that will lead to a healthier environment.  Interested in learning how you can do more for the environment this Earth Day 2011?  There are opportunities in your backyard!

A screenshot of some of Smithsonian's marine story windows in Google Earth

Smithsonian Marine Collections on Google Earth

Dive into the Gulf of Mexico without getting wet! The Smithsonian has recently uploaded some of its marine collections from that region onto Google Earth's Ocean Layer. Now you can go where our scientists have traveled and discover the biodiversity that exists beneath the water's surface. Want to see Google Earth's ocean layer in action?

Graph of magnitude 5 or greater earthquakes from 1900- April 2011.

Graph of magnitude 5 or greater earthquakes from 1900- April 2011

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) keeps track of earthquake locations and magnitudes, accessible on the USGS website.  Modern recording equipment has been in use since about 1900. While this may seem like long ago, this only provides a VERY short reliable earthquake record. This graph shows the magnitude of earthquakes (looking only at those greater than M = 5) versus time since 1900.

Chef Mike Isabella

Chef Mike Isabella

Mike Isabella, Chef and Owner of Graffiato restaurant in Washington, DC. Chef Isabella is joined by some of Washington's and the Gulf states' finest chefs in preparing sustainable seafood dishes for a special event held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on June 9, 2011.