Today's Catch

These "elevator" rudists, an ancient bivalve, used one long heavy valve to anchor themselves in the sediment. They used their tentacles (shown here in pink) to filter food from the sea water. Discover more about the ancient ocean at our feature Ocean Over Time.

Like other sea snakes, the turtle-headed sea snake (Emydocephalus annulatus) has fangs and venom. But its venom is weak so, instead of defending with a bite, the species tends to react to danger by swimming back to a crack or crevice to hide. For food, the sea snake sneaks around coral reefs looking for fish eggs attached to coral or rocks.

Starksia blennies, small fish with elongated bodies, generally native to shallow to moderately deep rock and coral reefs in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, have been well-studied for more than 100 years. It would have been reasonable to assume that there was little about the group left to discover. Using modern genetic analysis combined with traditional examination of morphology, scientists discovered that what were once thought to be three species of blenny are actually 10 distinct species.

The blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is one of the most important commercial species in the United States, especially in the Chesapeake Bay region on the Mid-Atlantic coast.