Oceans

The rim of white light emanating from the disco clam's lips in this image seems to be its best defense against a predator.

Disco Clams Are Flashy

Their orange lips twinkle in a particularly funky display

Dumpling squid don't let danger stop them from mating.

Threat of Being Eaten Doesn’t Deter Dumpling Squid From Sex

The adorable cephalopods seem to rate mating higher on their list of priorities than survival

Our Answers to the Most Burning Questions of 2014

Here are the ten most popular installments of "Ask Smithsonian" this year

Arachnophobia, coral reefs, artificial cells and strange amphibians starred in some of this year's science finds you might have missed.

Ten Cool Science Stories You May Have Missed in 2014

ICYMI, there's a newfound coral reef in Iraq, the smallest force has been detected and more in this year's surprising science

After the devastating 2011 tsunami, the Japanese government spent billions of zen to build this sea wall along the Sendai Coastline. It's almost 20 miles long.

In an Era of Superstorms, This Exhibit Captures Our Shifting Relationship with the Earth's Rising Seas

"Sink or Swim" shows how we're learning to be smarter and more resilient in our response to increasingly unpredictable oceans and rivers

At 26,700 Feet, This Is the Deepest-Swimming Fish Known

Researchers found a new fish in the depths of the Mariana Trench

Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan: a landscape “lonely as a dream,” wrote Edward Abbey.

When Texas Was at the Bottom of the Sea

A hike to the “top of Texas,” the world’s most famous fossil reef, leads to a new sense of the sublime

Singer and plastic-clothing designer Pharrell Williams at the "Raw For The Oceans" event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Top 12 Ocean Stories That Made Waves in 2014

The seas served up some compelling headlines this year, from celebrity fashion to solving the mystery of the melting starfish

For years now, the U.S. Navy has been looking for a way to fuel fighter jets aboard aircraft carriers out in the open ocean without having to rely on refueling ships.

Fuel from Seawater? What's the Catch?

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory recently flew a model plane using a liquid hydrocarbon fuel they sourced from the ocean

Plastic trash collected from the world's oceans.

The Ocean Contains Over Five Trillion Pieces of Plastic Weighing More than 250,000 Tons

These frightening figures represent the most robust estimate of marine plastic pollution calculated to date

A bleached coral reef

Listen to the Sounds of a Dying Coral Reef

Healthy coral reefs produce a medley of sounds that ocean creatures use as homing beacons

A humpback whale in waters off southern Oman.

Humpback Whales in the Arabian Sea Have Been Isolated for 70,000 Years

Conservationists want this particular population of humpbacks to be classified as critically endangered

As above, so below.

The Hidden Underbelly of West Antarctica Is Melting

Warm currents are flowing under ice shelves, causing coastal losses that may let land-based glaciers slide into the sea

A system in testing off the coast of Cape Town uses an electric field to safely ward off predators.

An Electric Fence Wards Off Sharks

South Africa has begun testing a humane way to make its beaches safer

Sunflower sea stars are just one of 20 species affected.

Meet the Tiny Killer Causing Millions of Sea Stars to Waste Away

The deadly sea star wasting disease, which turns live animals into slimy goop, is caused by a previously unknown virus

An algae bloom off the coast of Maryland. Such blooms help create low-oxygen areas called dead zones as the algae respire or decompose.

Ocean Dead Zones Are Getting Worse Globally Due to Climate Change

Warmer waters and other factors will cause nearly all areas of low oxygen to grow by the end of the century

Moon jellies (Aurelia aurita) drift in dark waters at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo.

Big Moon Jelly Blooms Tied to New Dock Construction

A floating pier installed off Japan led to a four-fold increase in baby jellies, offering a solid link between structures and blooms

A levee meant to keep out the sea was no match for the 2011 tsunami that struck Japan.

Small Islands May Make Tsunami Danger Worse

While offshore islands usually protect coasts, simulations suggest they may amplify monster waves reaching the mainland

A "Sea Devil" as depicted by Conrad Gessner in Historia Animalium, 2nd ed, 1604.

Five “Real” Sea Monsters Brought to Life by Early Naturalists

From kraken to mermaids, some monsters are real—if you know how to look for them

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Gorgeous Portraits of Spineless Sea Creatures

In a new book, San Francisco-based photographer Susan Middleton captures the curious gestures and expressions of marine invertebrates

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