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PHOTO Rapa Whelk Rapa whelks, native to Asia, have invaded the Chesapeake Bay and are raising concerns about economic and ecological impacts to the Bay region due to their shellfish diet. Scientists believe...MORE PHOTOS


	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Invertebrates from the Gulf of Mexico The Smithsonian's Department of Invertebrate Zoology has a collection of over 57...
	BLOG POST MORE STORIES So You Think You're Smarter Than a Cephalopod? The blanket octopus can rip a poisonous tentacle from a Portuguese man-o-war and...
	IMAGE GALLERY MORE GALLERIES Bioluminescent Animals Photo Gallery Bioluminescence is one of the more captivating adaptations that have evolved in...

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					Searching for Crustaceans in the Deep Sea May 16, 2013 - 9:04AMIn this video Smithsonian research zoologist Dr. Martha Nizinski takes viewers with her as she searches for crustaceans in the deep sea. She's particularly interested in finding squat lobsters, which despite their name, are...

Colorful Caribbean Crustaceans

May 15, 2013 - 8:12AM

Discovering new species is an exciting quest, right? Well, some parts are—...

Zombie Worms Eating Whale Bone

May 13, 2013 - 9:23AM

Zombie worms (Osedax roseus) eat away at the bones of a dead whale that has...

SPOTLIGHT


A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum The open ocean is surprisingly barren to the naked eye. Every now and again you will encounter a school of fish and their...

Venomous Box Jelly from South Carolina May 2 2013 - 9:29am This venomous box jelly (Chiropsalmus quadrumanus) was collected off the coast of South Carolina. The specimen now resides in the Smithsonian’s marine collection. It's venomous sting can be lethal, especially to small children.	Crown of Thorns Starfish Oct 3 2010 - 7:25pm A crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) on a reef in the Marianas Islands. An “outbreak” of these coral-eating starfish can decimate a reef.
Purple Sea Urchin Aug 10 2012 - 3:27pm This purple urchin Paleopneustes cristatus is seldom seen by itself, and can be found in groups of hundreds. Dr. Dave Pawson, a senior scientist at NMNH who studies deep-sea echinoderms, is testing if the fertilized eggs of this urchin sink or are buoyant, an important question in...	Amphipod: Salp Invader Sep 7 2012 - 4:35pm 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...
Can You Spot the Seahorse? Feb 12 2013 - 9:58am It's a pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti), found in Indonesia's biodiverse Coral Triangle and one of the smallest seahorse species in the world! They can change colors like a chameleon to blend into their environment. This helps to protect them from predators and ambush their prey. Read ten...	Caught on Video: Giant Squid Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am In 2006, this female giant squid attacked bait suspended beneath a Japanese research vessel off the coast of Japan in the Ogasawara Islands.
Giant Squid: One Species at a Time Jun 2 2010 - 12:31pm How do you get two dead Giant Squid the size of a school bus from a fishing boat in Spain to Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.? Call in the U.S. Navy! In this episode of the One Species at a Time, find out how Operation Calamari unfolded and how the museum managed...	Smithsonian Cephalopod Collection Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am This photo shows just a small part of the cephalopod collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Shown here is Dr. Clyde Roper, a zoologist and squid expert.
Grimpoteuthis, The Dumbo Octopus Nov 16 2012 - 11:39am The dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis) is a deep sea animal that lives on the ocean floor at extreme depths of 9,800 to 13,000 feet. They are small animals, around 8 inches tall, and have a pair of fins located on their mantle—their namesake—and webbing between their arms. Grimpoteuthis swim often hover...	Coral Reefs: One Species at a Time May 11 2010 - 3:27pm Coral reefs are bustling cities of marine life, until rising ocean temperatures turn them into ghost towns. Can reefs spring back from devastating bleaching events? In this episode of the Podcast of Life, Ari Daniel Shapiro and researcher Dr. Randi Rotjan of the New England Aquarium, journey to the...
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.	Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea Oct 12 2011 - 4:56pm In the spring of 2011, a research crew from Oceana spent two months in the brackish Baltic Sea. The Baltic faces challenges from pollution, algae blooms, over fishing, and invasive species. Oceana researchers gathered data, samples, photographs, and videos with the goal of proposing an...
Built-in Underwater Polarized Lenses? Apr 16 2013 - 11:02am Polarized sunglasses have become the norm for humans when they want to filter out the strong glare from the sunlight bouncing off of water in a horizontal direction. But how do animals do that live in the water full time see over the glare? Over time some animals, including fish, crabs and shrimp,...	Giant Squid Beak and Radula Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am Inside the giant squid's sharp beak is a tongue-like organ called the radula (shown in yellow). Covered with rows of tiny teeth, it rams bite size pieces of food down the squid's throat. The pieces must be small because the giant squid's esophagus passes through the brain on the way to the stomach...
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 flatworms, which use the same opening for both ingesting and removing their food).	Isopod Engorged With Blood Nov 19 2012 - 10:49am Isopods (small, shrimp-like animals) like this one (Gnathia aureusmaculosa) are the mosquitoes of the sea, sucking the blood of fish while they sleep. Find out more in "No Fouling Around" from the Citizens of the Sea blog series.