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Invertebrates

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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...

Glowing Sucker Octopus Dec 7 2009 - 11:09pm This red octopod (Stauroteuthis syrtensis) shines in a novel way. Suckers stretching in a single row down each arm flash on and off. The glowing-sucker octopod drifts through deep waters off the eastern United States—down to 2,500 meters (8,200 feet)—and grows up to 50 cm (18 inches) long.	Fan Sponge Jul 27 2011 - 11:50am Dr. Martha Nizinski holds a specimen of a fan sponge (Phakellia sp.) collected at a deep-sea coral study site off the coast of South Carolina. Deep-sea corals and sponges provide structure for a variety of other organisms, which use these habitats for protection as well as for finding food and...
Five Questions for Shirley Pomponi, Medical Sponge Hunter Oct 23 2012 - 3:01pm Most scuba divers scour coral reefs looking for colorful fish, natural beauty, and maybe even the perfect underwater photo. Shirley Pomponi, a biologist at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, however, seeks new medicines by collecting sponges.	Bigfin Squid Specimen Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am In 1954 Smithsonian researchers dissected this squid specimen from the stomach of a lancetfish and added it to the Museum’s squid collection. Almost 50 years later, it helped scientists identify a strange, mysterious squid spotted in the deep ocean and describe a new family of squid—the...
Acanthaster planci Oct 3 2012 - 9:24am Scientists have been studying why populations of crown-of-thorns sea stars (Acanthaster planci) have mushroomed in recent decades. Coral reefs can suffer when the sea star's numbers explode because the echinoderm has a healthy appetite and few predators. And they are part of the reason...	Pharaoh Cuttlefish Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am The Pharaoh Cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) lives in warm waters (30°C) in the western Indian Ocean. Cuttlefish are the most commonly caught cuttlefish species in the Persian Gulf, either for aquarium use or human consumption. This one was photographed in an aquarium at the visitor's center for the...
New Guinea Fish and Crab Jul 9 2010 - 1:22pm The waters of New Guinea teemed with exotic fishes and crabs, which were faithfully depicted by William Dampier’s artist. When Dampier’s book A Voyage to New Holland was published in 1703, illustrations like these—along with Dampier’s vivid prose—introduced enthusiastic readers to plants, birds,...	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...
Sea Cucumber in Curaçao Aug 14 2012 - 10:04am Sea cucumbers might have a cucumber shape, but are definitely animal, not vegetable… or fruit. They belong to the Phylum Echinodermata, which also includes sea urchins, sand dollars, sea stars and brittle stars.	Tiny crab in the sargassum May 18 2012 - 5:17pm The sargassum is coated with encrusting organisms, such as bryozoans and hydroids, that use it as a perch to filter feed in the oceanic waters, as well as crustaceans such as the swimming crab Portunus sayi (Portunidae).
Growth Experiment Nov 21 2012 - 10:19am New, white growth emerges from a living deep-sea coral sample that was stained pink, enabling ocean scientists to measure its coral growth rate. Find out more about how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in our Deep-sea Corals article.	Bioluminescent Comb Jelly Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Like many deep sea creatures, this tiny comb jelly (Bathocyroe fosteri) has a transparent body, enabling it to blend into the surrounding waters. This ctenophore is very common around the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. More about the deep ocean can be found in the Deep Ocean Exploration section.
Shallow Coral Reef Foraminifers Jan 24 2013 - 10:32am In this photo of a shallow coral reef in the Pacific there are three species of forams. On the left, Peneroplis planatus. In the center, Amphistegina lessonii. And on the right, Laevipeneroplis sp. Their colors come from the symbiotic algae that live inside the foram shells.	A Bite of Bitter Crab Mar 27 2013 - 1:37pm Hopefully you've never bitten into a delicious hunk of snow crab meat and instantly spit it out because instead of crab you tasted... aspirin?! If you have, it might have been crab meat infected with a species of Hematodinium, a parasitic dinoflagellate that is the cause of Bitter Crab Disease in...
Fireworm Takes on Fire Coral Dec 10 2009 - 11:45am This bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) must have a strong stomach -- it’s sucking on fire coral (Millepora sp.), which would give the unlucky snorkeler a nasty sting. Encountered in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, the worm in this photo is about 15 cm (6 inches) long, but they can get up to...	Largest Eye in the World, Giant Squid Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Giant squid have the largest eye in the animal kingdom. At up to 10 inches in diameter, people often describe it as the size of a dinner plate -- or, in other words, as big as a human head. Here, National Museum of Natural History staffer Katie Velazco goes eye-to-eye with a preserved example from...