Skip to Content Skip to Navigation

Ocean Portal by The Smithsonian Institution

Invertebrates

FEATURES


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...

EDUCATOR RESOURCES

LATEST TODAY'S CATCH


					Lettuce Sea Slug May 20, 2013 - 8:57AMThe lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) has enlarged fleshy appendages that are folded over one another, with colors ranging from blue to green, with purple and red lining. The green coloring is what gives this mollusk it's common...

Searching for Crustaceans in the Deep Sea

May 16, 2013 - 9:04AM

In this video Smithsonian research zoologist Dr. Martha Nizinski takes...

Colorful Caribbean Crustaceans

May 15, 2013 - 8:12AM

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

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...

Celebrating Marine Moms May 11 2012 - 2:12pm This Mother's Day we honor moms everywhere. Whether with gills, fins, flippers, claws, tentacles or arms, we appreciate all you do for us. Here is a Happy Mother's Day salute to devoted moms above the waves and below. To learn more about ocean moms check out our blog post on marine menopausal...	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 bryozoan's tissues, is produced by its bacterial endosymbiont, Candidatus Endobugula sertula.
Close-up View of Salps Sep 7 2012 - 3:38pm 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.	Blue Shark Sep 29 2011 - 1:39pm A blue shark swims through waters off the coast of New England in this image captured by National Geographic photojournalist Brian Skerry. A red-colored female copepod (Echthrogaleus coleoptratus) has hitched a ride on the shark's dorsal fin. The two long, red tails on the copepod are her...
Dead Man’s Fingers Nov 2 2012 - 11:06am Dead man’s fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) are soft corals named for their appendage-like appearance when thrown ashore by storms. The finger-like clumps of coral polyps come in various shades of pink, orange, white, grey, or yellow and are found along the northern Atlantic coasts of Europe and North...	The Comeback Sea Slug Apr 5 2013 - 9:12am This nudibranch, or shell-less marine snail, is making a comeback to a location it hasn't been to in years along the California coast. First discovered off the coast of Southern California in 1902, Felimare californiensis was thought to be extinct in the region since 1984 due to pollution. But...
Adult Swimming Crab Jul 5 2012 - 9:46am When they get larger, Portunus sayi are formidable predators- quick to consume any smaller animal that comes within reach. Fish, other crustaceans, and even smaller members of their own species are not safe from this hungry sargassum swimming crab.	Lettuce Sea Slug May 20 2013 - 8:57am The lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) has enlarged fleshy appendages that are folded over one another, with colors ranging from blue to green, with purple and red lining. The green coloring is what gives this mollusk it's common name, resembling a head of leafy green lettuce. The sea slug eats...
Humboldt Squid Shoots Ink Oct 11 2012 - 1:34pm 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.	Reef Monitoring Structure Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Researchers use Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) like this one to study the diversity of coral reef organisms. They leave the structures underwater for about a year. Then they retrieve the ARMS and analyze what life forms have taken up residence. Read more about why researchers are...
Corals Threatened by Acid Seas Apr 5 2011 - 4:18pm Much of the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean. As CO2 levels rise, seawater becomes more acidic. This change in chemistry poses a serious threat to marine organisms including snails, corals, such as in the above photo showing a single bleached polyp, and fish.	Bizarre and Beautiful Coral Reef Animals Dec 4 2009 - 3:05pm Coral reefs support an amazing array of life forms many of them beautiful, some of them downright bizarre. Dive in and take a look through this photo gallery.
A Chorus of Sea Angels Dec 24 2012 - 12:03pm This is a tree topper unlike any other! Reminiscent of a freshly made snow angel, these pteropods are actually shell-less sea snails (Clione limacina). Unlike the typical snail, they flap their adapted foot ‘wings’ to get around in the water column. They are extremely small, with the largest...	A Swimming Snail Sep 7 2012 - 4:00pm 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...
Giant Squid Sucker Marks Jul 12 2012 - 11:12am 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....	Giant Squid on Baited Camera Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am This is the first photograph of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in its natural habitat. It was taken in 2004 by two Japanese researchers who had suspended a long line from their research vessel with a camera and bait attached. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid section.