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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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					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...

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 fallen to the seafloor in Sagami Bay, Japan. These bizarre worms rely on whale bones for energy and are what scientists call “sexually dimorphic”—the male and female forms are markedly different. In this case, the males are...	Marine Biology on the Island of Moorea Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am The island of Moorea is a natural laboratory for scientists on a quest to catalog every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers. Head out into the field and watch as researchers use cutting-edge DNA technology and old-fashioned elbow grease in a giant scavenger hunt that will help us...
Colorful Caribbean Crustaceans May 15 2013 - 8:12am Discovering new species is an exciting quest, right? Well, some parts are—but after you find a cool-looking organism that you think is a new species, there's a lot more to be done. You have to confirm that it's new, write a detailed description, take photographs, collect DNA, and do other...	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...
Deep-Sea Worms Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am These deep-sea photographs show a variety of broad-collared enteropneusts or acorn worms. These wormlike animals make spiral tracks on the sea floor. All the species shown here are new to science, and most have not yet been collected by scientists. More about deep ocean exploration can be found in...	Transparent sea jelly Jan 6 2011 - 12:38pm Many jellyfish in the class Hydrozoa, such as this hydromedusa Aglantha digitale, are transparent and easily overlooked. Learn more about hydrozoan jellies and other jellyfish, and see more pictures of Arctic animals in the “Under Arctic Ice” photo essay.
Octopus Shows Off Its Siphon Aug 2 2012 - 4:18pm This common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) doesn't have a jetpack to help him zoom through the water, but he's got something pretty close: a siphon that shoots water. (It's the little orange/yellow cup in the picture.) Octopuses pull water into their mantle cavities and then squeeze it out through the...	Male Giant Squid Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am This male giant squid is on display in the Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. It measures about 2.7 meters (9 feet) long and weighs a little more than 45.5 kilograms (100 pounds). Found off the coast of Spain, it is on loan to the Smithsonian from the...
Deep Coral Sighted in Mediterranean Jul 29 2010 - 10:58pm Using a deep-diving ROV, the crew aboard Oceana’s research vessel Ranger were surprised to discover large colonies of deep-sea white coral in the Western Mediterranean Sea in July 2010. Most of the Mediterranean’s deep-sea coral reefs are already gone as a result of destructive fishing techniques...	Red Mid-Water Comb Jelly Apr 18 2013 - 10:35am Like this ctenophore (Aulococtena acuminata), many animals that live in the midwater zone are red—making them almost invisible in the dim blue light that filters down from the sea surface. This small comb jelly snares prey with its two short tentacles.
Crustacean Epibionts Nov 8 2011 - 3:48pm In a 2011 study published in the Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, researchers documented a number of different organisms living on olive ridley and green turtles in the Pacific. Of these "epibionts," crustaceans made up more than 40% of those observed. Some are depicted here:...	Box Jellies: One Species at a Time Apr 2 2010 - 12:16pm In this episode of the Podcast of Life, learn how three fiery, painful stings during an early morning swim in Hawaii changed the life of researcher Angel Yanagihara. Once the young biochemist had recovered from her box jelly encounter, Carybdea alata had her full attention. Now she works to unlock...
Collecting Shallow-Water Specimens with the "Yabbie Pump" Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am The long silver tool shown here is a piece of traditional Australian fishing gear called a “yabbie pump.” Researchers use the device to collect burrowing shrimp and other fast-moving animals from the shallow waters near the island of Moorea. Learn more in our Scientists Catalog Life on the...	Fiddler Crab Jul 30 2012 - 10:31am Male fiddler crabs, like this one collected on Moorea, wave their enlarged claw as way of signaling to other crabs, especially during mating season. Learn more about the Island of Moorea in the Pacific Ocean, including its biodiversity and the scientific effort to catalog all the life found on its...
Squids and Cephalopod Diversity Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am These Pacific cephalopods illustrate the wide diversity among this group of mollusks. You can learn about a relative, the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), in our Giant Squid section.	Medicines from the Sea Jan 14 2011 - 12:08pm You may not think of the ocean as a pharmacy but scientists are developing exciting new medicines from the sponges, corals, and other marine organisms found in the sea. Explore other videos that capture the beauty and mystery of the ocean realm at NOAA Ocean Today.