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This is one of about 200 species of moray eels that live in tropical and subtropical coral reefs.
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Guineafowl Moray

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Close-up photograph of translucent coral polyps, showing the symbiotic algae living inside.
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Close-up of a Coral Polyp

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Shallow water coral reefs straddle the equator worldwide.
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Global Distribution of Shallow Coral Reef Ecosystems

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Rudist clams are mollusks that went extinct about 65 million years ago.
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Rudist Clams

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Ghost crabs are often seen scuttling quickly along beaches, and can be difficult to photograph in the wild. They are common in Moorea where this specimen was collected.
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Ghost Crab Close Up

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Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells. This specimen shows the crab without its customary borrowed shelter.
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Hermit Crab Without a Shell

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Cooks Bay in Moorea is one of the places that researchers are scouring in their quest to collect one of every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers.
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Cooks Bay, Moorea

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Male fiddler crabs, like this one collected on Moorea, wave their enlarged claw as way of signaling to other crabs, especially during mating season.
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Fiddler Crab

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This brightly colored squat lobster collected in Moorea is a common find among the coral heads. Although called lobsters, this group of crustaceans is more closely related to hermit crabs than to true lobsters.
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Squat Lobster

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Researcher Aimee Ellison tests samples for DNA barcoding at the Gump Field Station on Moorea.
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Testing DNA samples

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A diver on the reef near Moorea collects samples.
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Research Diver in Moorea

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On Moorea, an island in French Polynesia, researchers are striving to complete a biocode—a DNA catalog of every life form big enough to pick up with tweezers.
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The Island of Moorea

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