Pacific Ocean

The tail, or fluke, of a humpback whale is identifiable, like a fingerprint is for a human.

Humpback Whale Makes Record-Breaking 8,000-Mile Migration Across Three Oceans, but the Reason Is Still a Mystery

Biologists say mating, climate change or simply being confused might have driven the creature to swim great distances, between Colombia and Zanzibar

An orca named L82 Kasatka swims in front of Mt. Rainier, with a strand of eelgrass trailing from her dorsal fin. She belongs to the Southern Resident orca population, a critically endangered group in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

No, Orcas Probably Aren't Reviving the 'Dead Salmon Hat' Trend, Despite a Viral Photo, Experts Say. Here's Why

A recent photo of an orca swimming with a salmon on its head has fueled speculation that the fad, first observed in the 1980s, has re-emerged off the coast of Washington state. But some experts are less eager to jump to that conclusion

Estimates of the number of Pacific Islanders captured by blackbirders and forced to work on cotton and sugar plantations in Fiji and Australia range from 61,610 to more than 100,000.

How 'Blackbirders' Forced Tens of Thousands of Pacific Islanders Into Slavery After the Civil War

The decline of the American South's cotton and sugar industries paved the way for plantations in British-controlled Fiji and Australia, where victims of "blackbirding" endured horrific working conditions

The creature lives in the “midnight zone," an area of the ocean so deep that sunlight never reaches it.

Scientists Finally Identified This Glowing, Transparent 'Mystery Mollusk' After Nearly 25 Years of Puzzling

The newly described species of sea slug dwells in darkness in the ocean’s midnight zone, using a hood to capture prey with a Venus flytrap-like technique

A whale attacks a boat in Frank Goodrich's 1858 novel "Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time".

Inside the Terrifying True Story of the Sperm Whale That Sank the Whale-Ship ‘Essex’ and Inspired Herman Melville’s ‘Moby-Dick’

Survivors of the whale attack drifted at sea for months, succumbing to starvation, dehydration—and even cannibalism

A diver swims alongside the world’s largest coral colony, located in the Solomon Islands.

See Staggering Photos of the World's Largest Coral, Newly Discovered by Scientists in the Pacific Ocean

The enormous organism is bigger than a blue whale and made up of millions of genetically identical, tiny animals called polyps

A sample of ocean crust, turned upside down, reveals tubeworms and other organisms.

In a First, Scientists Find Animals Thriving Beneath the Ocean Floor in Hidden Habitats Near Deep-Sea Vents

The discovery of worms and snails confirms that these still-mysterious, dark hotspots of life extend beyond what’s visible above the crust

Aerial view of Government Point, located within Point Conception State Marine Reserve and the newly designated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

A New Marine Sanctuary Off California Will Be Co-Managed by Indigenous Peoples

NOAA designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary this month, following a decade of advocacy by supporters. The protected site will be finalized after a 45-day review period

Orcas are the oceans’ apex predator, even outranking the great white shark, but their hunting behaviors are still not fully understood by scientists.

Rare Drone Footage Captures Orcas Feeding on Dusky Dolphins

The predatory pod hunts off the coast of Chile and is led by a matriarch called Dakota

A rarely seen whiplash squid swims more than 3,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

See Ten Strange and Mesmerizing Creatures From the Deep Ocean, From Sea Toads to Frilled Sharks

Scientists who explore the depths using submersibles continue to discover amazing animals that inhabit dark waters

The Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish (Harriotta avia) has a long snout and a whip-like tail.

Scientists Discover a New Species of Elusive Ghost Shark

Called the Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish, the cryptic species lives deep in the ocean off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia

The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is one of several unusual-looking sea creatures to wash ashore in Oregon so far this summer.

Five-Foot-Long Ocean Sunfish Washes Ashore in Oregon, a 'Relatively Small' Size for Its Species

It's the second sunfish to be found dead on the beach in a small region of northwestern Oregon this summer, following the discovery of an even rarer hoodwinker sunfish

Kayakers, researchers, lifeguards and paddleboarders managed to get the huge fish to shore.

Rare 'Doomsday' Oarfish Surfaces in California, Just the 20th Discovered in the State Since 1901

Kayakers spotted and hauled ashore the 12-foot-long oarfish, a deep-sea species known for its connection to earthquakes in Japanese folklore

Six of the 12 islands, including Hiva Oa, are permanently inhabited.

These Remote Volcanic Islands in the South Pacific Just Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Marquesas, located some 3,000 miles from their nearest continental neighbor, are some of the most isolated islands on the planet

Brazilian Olympic surfer Gabriel Medina pops up after riding a barrel wave at Teahupo'o during the Summer Games on Monday. The photo by Jérôme Brouillet has gone viral.

The Story Behind This Breathtaking Viral Photo of an Olympic Surfer

Jérôme Brouillet, a photojournalist with the Agence France-Presse (AFP), captured an iconic moment when Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina celebrated after setting an Olympic record

Athletes like Canada's Sanoa Dempfle-Olin traveled to Tahiti for this year's Olympics.

Why Are the Olympic Surfing Events Being Held in Tahiti?

The tiny village of Teahupo’o, known for its monstrous, barrel-shaped waves, will host 48 athletes from 21 countries during the Summer Games

Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, holds a nodule retreived from the seafloor in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean in 2021. The company plans to mine for these nodules, which researchers suggest produce oxygen underwater.

Scientists Discover 'Dark Oxygen' on the Ocean Floor Generated—Surprisingly—by Lumps of Metal

Researchers found that electric currents from polymetallic nodules are behind this alchemy—the same minerals that deep-sea miners are targeting

The explosion at Port Chicago on July 17, 1944, killed 320 people and injured 400 more.

Black Sailors Exonerated 80 Years After Deadly World War II Disaster

The Navy secretary officially cleared the 256 Black service members who were punished in connection with the explosion in Port Chicago, California

The remains of whales that sink to the ocean floor become biological oases. Since 1977, scientists had only identified about 50 such whale falls across the world’s oceans, but a recent effort uncovered a startling density of them off the coast of Los Angeles.

Why Have So Many Whale Remains Been Found on the Ocean Floor Near Los Angeles?

Scientists have discovered more whale falls there than in the rest of the world combined

Rice coral grows over another species of coral.

These Supercorals Are Causing Problems

As rice coral spreads it reduces biodiversity

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