Sea Creatures

Soft tumors make life hard for sea turtles.

Should We Share Human Cancer Treatments With Tumorous Turtles?

They may be key to saving wild sea turtles from tumors associated with turtle-specific herpes

Do Marine Mammals Yawn and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

River eels exposed to cocaine suffered muscle damage and other health effects.

Cocaine in the Water Is Hurting River Eels

When researchers exposed eels to the illicit drug, the animals became hyperactive and suffered muscle damage

Introducing a Hairy-Footed Shrimp Named After Bilbo Baggins

Like its hobbit namesake, Odontonia bagginsi is also quite small

Fully 73 percent of the patents studied in the paper pertained to microbial species, which account for about 20 percent of marine life.

Nearly Half the Patents on Marine Genes Belong to Just One Company

Who owns biodiversity? No one and everyone—or maybe, a German chemical company

An artist's impression of an adult and juvenile Lyrarapax unguispinus — awww, how adorable!

This Prehistoric Sea Creature Had Fanged, Killer Babies

The discovery of a juvenile <i>Lyrarapax unguispinus</i> fossil reveals that even the tiny terrors had a developed claw-like appendage and sharp teeth

Whale Dies in Thailand With 80 Plastic Bags in Its Stomach

A five-day rescue effort could not save the animal, which started vomiting up pieces of plastic before it died

The first blue whale ever seen in the Red Sea.

Huge Blue Whale Sighted in the Red Sea for the First Time

The massive mammals typically spend their summers in polar waters, but are known to occasionally migrate further

When it comes to diving, humans can't hope to keep up with flippered mammals. But an anatomist thinks she may have identified a crucial structure in dolphins that could help humans avoid the bends.

Dolphins Have a Mysterious Network of Veins That Could Be Key to Preventing the Bends

It might be possible to make an external device that protects divers from the deadly condition

Plastic ice bag found by a NOAA expedition to the Marianas in 2016

Even the Deepest Parts of the Ocean Are Polluted With Startling Amounts of Plastic

A review of data from 5,010 ROV dives reveals and abundance of single-use plastics littering the seas

A pelagic snail ensnares food with with a mucous web.

These Strange Ocean Creatures Trap Their Food In a Net of Mucus

Biologists are finding that these invertebrate grazers can actually be picky eaters—and their choices might influence ocean food webs

The group of Muuscoctopus found on the Dorado Outcrop.

Colony of Beautiful, Doomed Purple Octopuses Found Off Costa Rica

Hundreds of unidentified cephalopods were found nursing their eggs near a deep-sea vent

Everyone knows about shallow coral reefs like this one, which Shepherd captured during a decompression stop up from a mesophotic dive. Far fewer know about the deep reefs that lie just below them.

Illuminating the Ocean’s Teeming Twilight Zone, Before It Disappears

Like underwater islands, these deep reefs harbor countless creatures that scientists have never heard of, and many they never will

Curasub commissioner/owner Adriaan Schrier and lead DROP scientist Carole Baldwin aboard the custom-built submersible.

How a Team of Submersible-Bound Scientists Redefined Reef Ecosystems

In tropical Curaçao, Smithsonian researchers are constantly confronting the unknown

This Crab Doesn't Take Kindly to Home Intruders

The crown-of-thorns starfish eats coral reefs; coral reefs happen to be the home of the guard crab

Storm Emma has caused one of the UK's largest mass strandings of sea critters along the North Sea coast.

Tens of Thousands of Sea Creatures Wash Up on UK Shores Following Freezing Weather

Piles of starfish, crab, mussels and lobsters collected along the North Sea coast

Manta Rays Use Tiny Fish to Help Them Stay Clean

Wrasse perform a vital cleaning function for other fish, by ridding their bodies of dead cells and parasites

A large female Greenland shark observed near the community of Arctic Bay, Nunavut.

The World's Most Ancient, Elusive Sharks Were Finally Caught on Video

Greenland sharks, which can live more than 400 years, reveal how little we know about life in the coldest oceans

The Story Behind Big Sur's Glowing Waves

Photographer George Krieger captured the unusual scene in vivid detail

Turtle Hatchlings Face Death While Dashing to Ocean

On the beaches of the Great Barrier Reef, the first turtle hatchlings emerge from their shells and make a run for the ocean

Page 8 of 14