Census of Marine Life
Profile
The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in 80+ nations engaged in a ten-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the world’s oceans - past, present and future. Conducting research in under-explored and well-studied habitats alike, in both coastal and deep waters, the Census is identifying new organisms, collecting new information on ocean life, analyzing historical documents, and modeling future ecosystems. This will enable scientists to compare what once lived in the oceans to what lives there now, and to project what will live there in the future. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life - past, present, and future - will be released in 2010.
Collaborator Contributions
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....
Census of Marine Life researchers discovered this unusual transparent sea cucumber (Enypniastes sp.) in the Gulf of Mexico. It creeps forward on its tentacles, sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth. So...
The sargassum fish (Histrio histrio) is a member of the frogfish family (Antennariidae) and typically lives in open waters near floating...
This transparent cockatoo squid (Leachia sp.), also known as a glass squid, lives in the ...
A fringe of short tentacles surrounds the flattened bell of this tiny, transparent jellyfish (Halicreas minimum), which can be found at depths up to 984 feet (300 meters). But it would be hard to spot: the bell...
This beautiful spider conch (Lambis chiragra) was collected by Census of Marine Life scientists conducting research near China.
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...
This beautiful jewel squid (Histioteuthis bonnellii) can be found swimming above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at depths of 500-2,000 meters (1,640-6,...
The Census of Marine Life - a ten-year effort by scientists from around the world to answer the age-old question, “What...
How does this skate (Bathyraja richardsoni) measure up? Researchers use underwater equipment to estimate its size. The marks on the meter-long...
Deep-sea species like this dragonfish (Bathophilus indicus) live in cold, dark waters and may go weeks or months between meals. When food is...
In a decade long project, which ended in October 2010, scientists with the Census of Marine Life traveled the world cataloging the...