Oceans

Head scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station, Valerie Paul, collects blue-green algae samples to study the chemicals they emit. Those chemicals can endanger coral reefs, but also have biomedical potential.

How Algae Communicate

Smithsonian scientist Valerie Paul studies the ways marine biochemicals can potentially help restore coral reefs and create new biomedicine

A snowflake moray eel peers out from its hiding spot.

To Capture Prey on Land, This Eel Has an Extendable, Extra Jaw Hidden Inside Its Throat

This second set of teeth allows some moray eels to more effectively feed in the intertidal zone when the tide is low

Orange scalefin anthias fish swarm in front of a fire coral in the Red Sea's Ras Mohammed Marine Park, Egypt.

Will the Oceans of 2030 Brim With Reef Robots and Other Fancy Stuff?

Imagine a world where an Indigenous fisher can get forecasts of local marine life from a smartphone, or robots offer real-time data on coral reef health

Dried sea snot on the surface of the water can be so strong that seagulls can walk on it, and it can damage fishing boat motors.

Turkey Begins to Clean Smelly Sea Snot From Its Shores

The layer of marine mucilage threatens not only tourism and fishing boats but also creatures living in the Sea of Marmara

Recent research has shown that most scientific papers on coral biodiversity are led by people in high-income countries with few coral reefs.

The Pandemic Showed What Can Be Done Without Parachute Science

With international scientists barred from traveling, local scientists in the Pacific islands are taking the chance to lead.

A pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) crosses the Indian Ocean and passes near Mirissa, Sri Lanka.

Using Nuclear Bomb Detectors, Scientists Overhear the Secret Songs of a Never-Before-Seen Pygmy Blue Whale Population

The new group is named 'Chagos' after the islands close to where the melodies were detected

New genetic research suggests that the gray whale spotted off the coast of Namibia in 2013 originated in the western Pacific.

Gray Whale Breaks Migration Record With 16,700-Mile Journey

The whale, which is usually found in the northern Pacific Ocean, was spotted off Namibia in 2013

A giant replica of the Aedes mosquito, a known vector for the disease yellow fever, has been waiting for visitors to return the National Museum of Natural History’s “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World” exhibit.

Don't Miss These Objects When the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum Reopens

See everything from a giant replica of a mosquito, to an Allosaurus fossil, to a pink fairy armadillo when the museum opens June 18

Small family-run dive tour operations in Mexico have been found to give more back to their communities than large foreign-owned businesses.

In Mexico, Dive Tourism Is Worth as Much as Fishing

Researchers estimate diving and snorkeling bring in up to $725 million annually

Sometime between 30-40 seconds after the diver was swallowed, the whale began to move its head from side to side and then resurfaced.

A Cape Cod Lobster Diver Was Swallowed by a Humpback Whale—and Then Spat Back Out

Except for severe bruising and a dislocated knee, the survivor is in good health and ready to return to work, he says

This jellyfish, Scolionema suvaense, was raised in the National Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology “AquaRoom.” Here, the species is sinking through food with its tentacles spread wide.

Live Jellyfish Make a Splash in Marine Education

Smithsonian's AquaRoom helps scientists learn more about these animals’ lives and educate future generations about their marine neighbors

The Southern Ocean is defined by a swift undertow called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) that flows from West to East around Antarctica.

National Geographic Officially Recognizes the Southern Ocean as World's Fifth Ocean

The organization's cartographers will now label a total of five oceans on their maps and atlases

Tinier whales threaten the species’ survival because smaller whales do not have as many offspring. Nursing mothers who entangle themselves in nets also produce smaller calves.

Humans, We've Shrunk the Whales

North Atlantic right whales born today are three feet shorter on average than whales born in 1980—and commercial fishing could be to blame

Combining carbon dioxide and calcium creates calcium carbonate rocks such as limestone.

To Combat Climate Change, Researchers Want to Pull Carbon Dioxide From the Ocean and Turn It Into Rock

Running seawater through an ocean carbon capture plant could chemically convert carbon dioxide to limestone on a grand scale

While most open ocean sharks disappeared after the event, coastal sharks survived, and today's sharks most likely ascended from the survivors.

A Puzzling Extinction Event Almost Wiped Sharks Out of Existence 19 Million Years Ago

Sediment cores show that shark populations declined by 90% during the Miocene, but no one knows why

Coral reef health is an important indicator of the ocean’s well-being. Scientists can study corals to learn more about how climate change is affecting the oceans.

DNA Makes Waves in the Fight to Save Coral Reefs

This emerging technique could help scientists understand and anticipate the threats coral reefs face

Remnants of a supernova called Cassiopeia A, located in our galaxy about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Scientists have long thought that supernovae were responsible for the creation of the heaviest elements, but new research suggests other types of stellar events may also be in play.

Scientists Find Plutonium Made in Outer Space on Ocean Floor

Research suggests the rare, heavy element may have been created by the collision of two neutron stars

Based on the size of the footballfish and the protruding appendage on the top of its head, state park officials said the fish is female. Female footballfish are the only ones that have the long bioluminescent appendages used to lure other fish toward their mouths.

A Jet-Black, Bioluminescent 'Football Fish' Washed Up on a California Beach

The sea creature typically lives in depths of 3,000 feet and rarely shows up on shore in one piece

Just one section of a marine worm with a strange, branching body. This species usually lives inside the many-chambered body of a sea sponge

This Marine Worm Sprouts Hundreds of Butts—Each With Its Own Eyes and Brain

When it’s time to reproduce, each of the worm’s many rear ends will swim off to get fertilized

A young green sea turtle with a solar-powered satellite tag that was used to track it to the Sargasso Sea.

Baby Sea Turtles Spend 'Lost Years' in Sargasso Sea

Researchers used tracking tags to solve the mystery of where young green sea turtles go after they hatch on the beach

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