marine science – Smithsonian Science News –

When many people think of the Chesapeake Bay, one of the first creatures that comes to mind is the iconic blue crab. But parts of

https://insider.si.edu/2018/09/smithsonian-scientists-become-shark-detectives-to-track-species-in-the-chesapeake-bay/

Marine mammologist Matthew Leslie aims his crossbow from the bow of a moving boat at the dolphins riding the breaking waves below. A dolphin will

https://insider.si.edu/2018/05/some-dolphins-cross-the-pacific-more-easily-than-others-why-that-matters-for-protecting-them/

Swimming in the frigid waters of the Arctic and surfacing in narrow gaps in the sea ice to breathe, the narwhal is one of the

https://insider.si.edu/2018/02/meet-worlds-weirdest-whale/

In the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has increased more than fourfold. In coastal water bodies,

https://insider.si.edu/2018/01/earths-oceans-losing-breath-heres-global-scope/

Forty percent of the world’s 2.5 billion people live in coastal cities and towns. A team including Smithsonian marine biologists just released 25 years of

https://insider.si.edu/2017/12/the-caribbean-is-stressed-out/

For many Californians, last year’s wet winter triggered a case of whiplash. After five years of drought, rain from October 2016 to February 2017 broke

https://insider.si.edu/2017/12/san-francisco-one-wet-winter-can-switch-bays-invasive-species/

Chances are, if you’ve been stung by a jellyfish along the Chesapeake Bay it was by a sea nettle jellyfish–one of the most common and

https://insider.si.edu/2017/10/scientists-discover-common-sea-nettle-jellyfish-actually-two-vastly-different-species/

To catch lizards on the offshore islands close to St. Croix in the Caribbean, Smithsonian herpetologist Nicole Angeli uses a lasso of thread looped at

https://insider.si.edu/2017/10/mongoose-wiped-now-nicole-angeli-wants-st-croix-ground-lizard-home/

Plastic debris floating in the ocean has become a powerful new passport to far-away destinations for a wide variety of invasive species, according to new

https://insider.si.edu/2017/09/destinations-floating-plastic-international-passport-invasive-species/

The Earth’s changing climate could cause the extinction of up to a third of its parasite species by 2070, according to a global analysis reported

https://insider.si.edu/2017/09/study-shows-parasites-may-among-earliest-victims-climate-change/

Hundreds of experiments have shown biodiversity fosters healthier, more productive ecosystems. But many experts doubted whether these experiments would hold up in the real world.

https://insider.si.edu/2017/09/biodiversity-even-powerful-nature-experiments/

Covered in sharp spines, when harassed the porcupine fish inflates like a balloon. Think of a small soccer ball bristling all over with nails. Most predators

https://insider.si.edu/2017/08/different-jaws/

Coral reefs are home to some of the most colorful, diverse life on the planet. And yet, for all their fame as biodiversity hotspots, it’s

https://insider.si.edu/2017/08/coral-reef-eavesdropping-unveils-burrowed-romantic-male-singers/

For the first time, a new public database will link genetic data with records of where and when the samples it was taken from were

https://insider.si.edu/2017/08/first-new-website-reveals-origin-genetic-samples-time-collected/

The world’s most indestructible species, the tardigrade, an eight-legged micro-animal, also known as the water bear, will survive until the Sun dies, according to a

https://insider.si.edu/2017/07/study-determines-microscopic-water-bears-will-earths-last-survivors/

For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to successfully cryopreserve (or freeze) the embryo of zebrafish, a species that is an important medical model

https://insider.si.edu/2017/07/smithsonian-scientist-partners-revolutionize-vital-conservation-tool-use-gold-nanotechnology-lasers/

A tiny invasive insect from Asia might have an effect on Chesapeake Bay waters. The emerald ash borer is killing millions of ash trees in

https://insider.si.edu/2017/06/invasive-ash-borer-found-smithsonian-environmental-research-center-forest-ash-deaths-may-impact-chesapeake-waters/

Sometimes there’s just no telling what will turn up at the local market. Fish biologist Jeff Williams of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

https://insider.si.edu/2017/06/surprise-distinctive-new-surgeonfish-species-makes-improbable-debut/

Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, lionfish in the Atlantic and pythons in the Everglades: Large creatures like these generally draw the spotlight when talking

https://insider.si.edu/2017/06/dna-trusty-new-weapon-detecting-slime-nets-invasive-parasites/

The blue whale, which uses baleen to filter its prey from ocean water and can reach lengths of over 100 feet, is the largest vertebrate

https://insider.si.edu/2017/05/only-recently-did-whales-become-giant/

Is it foolish to be optimistic about our environment and its future prospects? Every day, we hear dire warnings about the health of the planet

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/argument-environmental-optimism-opinion-smithsonian-secretary-david-j-skorton/

This Earth Day weekend in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian is convening the first Earth Optimism Summit. The three-day event, taking place April 21–23, will look

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/smithsonians-agua-salud-project-restores-degraded-land-productive-forests/

The Smithsonian is celebrating Earth Day this month by hosting the first Earth Optimism Summit from April 21 to 23 in Washington, D.C. Its goal

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/smithsonians-history/

Whales from both poles migrate long distances to breed in tropical waters. Smithsonian scientist Hector M. Guzman and Fernando Félix at the Salinas Whale Museum

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/humpback-whale-tagging-southeast-pacific-reveals-vital-information-species-protection/

A bizarre change occurs in the mouth of a humpback whale during its development in the womb. Several dozen tooth buds sprout in a row

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/paleo-detectives-energize-great-whale-mystery-baleen-evolved/

Earth Day is coming up, and this year, the Smithsonian has a different take on it. It has invited more than 150 scientists, thought leaders,

https://insider.si.edu/2017/04/earth-optimism-summit-showcase-conservations-steady-positive-gains/

In the battle against invasive species, giant commercial ships are on the front lines. But even when they follow the rules, one of their best

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/battle-invasive-marine-species-comes-short-global-shipping-surges/

Tool use by sea otters to break open well-armored food is not necessarily a family matter, according to a new study published this week by

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/tool-use-sea-otters-little-genetic-ties-smithsonian-study/

Dead zones affect dozens of coral reefs around the world and threaten hundreds more according to a new study by Smithsonian scientists published in the

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/dead-zones-may-threaten-coral-reefs-worldwide/

Odile Madden knows a lot about plastic. A materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, she has spent the past eight years studying plastics

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/microplastics-environment-conservation-odile-madden-smithsonian-plastics-scientist/

New species don’t just spring out of thin air. Speciation, the evolutionary process by which new and distinct species arise, usually takes millions of years.

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/qa-oscar-puebla-understanding-speciation-coral-reef-hamlets/

On Earth Day weekend, the Smithsonian will convene the first Earth Optimism Summit, a three-day event featuring more than 150 scientists, thought leaders, philanthropists, conservationists

https://insider.si.edu/2017/03/smithsonian-convene-earth-optimism-summit-april-21-23/

Food is scarce in the deep, dark regions of the ocean where barbeled dragonfishes and their relatives dwell. Known as the Stomiidae, some of these

https://insider.si.edu/2017/02/odd-anatomy-flexible-joint-skull-spine-allow-dragonfish-open-wide/

Recent underwater photographs and video from the National Marine Park of the southern Caribbean island of Bonaire has led to the discovery of a new species

https://insider.si.edu/2017/01/meet-candy-striped-hermit-crab-new-caribbean-species/

Caribbean coral reefs have become biologically and economically degraded habitats. The relative weight of the big factors in this ecological catastrophe–pollution, overfishing, warming and ocea...

https://insider.si.edu/2017/01/coral-reefs-grow-faster-healthier-parrotfish-abundant/

A newly discovered Hawaiian tree recently had the distinction of being added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Critically

https://insider.si.edu/2017/01/newly-named-hawaiian-tree-species-already-critically-endangered/

In 1969, 60 to 100 peacock bass imported from Buga, Colombia, were introduced into a pond in Panama for sport fishing. Several individuals escaped. By

https://insider.si.edu/2016/12/peacock-bass-invasion-devastating-long-term-effects-native-panamanian-fish/

A one-cubic-foot approach to studying biodiversity as showcased in the new Biocube exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has led to the

https://insider.si.edu/2016/12/new-solomon-islands-crab-species-discovered-biocube-research/

Living in deep reefs in the Atlantic Ocean, the banded basslet, a small and colorful species with a wide range of distribution, has long been

https://insider.si.edu/2016/12/fishy-caribbean-juveniles-recognized-new-species/

In 2012, under a scientist’s watchful eye, a comb jelly ate some fish, digested it, and excreted the waste out its back end. In doing

https://insider.si.edu/2016/11/simply-pooping-comb-jellies-expel-long-held-scientific-error/

Fort Pierce, Fla. – Fall in southern Florida is festival season: when the weather stops being oppressively hot and 70 degrees is positively autumnal.  On

https://insider.si.edu/2016/11/annual-smithsonian-led-science-festival-draws-crowds-ft-pierce-fla/

Crustaceans that thrive in the vastness of the open ocean have no place to hide from their predators. Consequently, many creatures that live at depths

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/midwater-ocean-creatures-use-nanotech-camouflage/

The last time Earth experienced both ice sheets and carbon dioxide levels within the range predicted for this century was a period of major sea

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/ancient-co2-record-may-mean-future-climate-change/

At the approach of a hungry parrot snake, a tree frog egg transforms from a haven to a prison. With no parent to offer protection,

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/mystery-solved-frogs-use-snout-glands-emergency-jail-break/

This brief squid made a surprise appearance in a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center trawl survey at the mouth of Maryland’s Rhode River last Thursday—the first

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/brief-squid-suprise/

Amid efforts to restore native oyster populations on the West Coast, how are oysters expected to fare under climate change in the decades and centuries

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/climate-change-may-benefit-native-oysters-theres-catch/

An extraordinary arrangement of bristles, wrinkles and wart-like bumps cover the cold skin of Sphaerephesia amphorata, a new deep-sea worm described and named by researchers

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/surface-bizarre-marine-worms/

To surprise their prey, some species of seabirds dive into the water at speeds greater than 50 miles per hour. A human diver entering the

https://insider.si.edu/2016/10/birds-dive-safely-high-speeds/

According to a new study, eating sea turtle eggs increases the health risk of heavy metal exposure in local communities in Panama and may provide

https://insider.si.edu/2016/09/human-health-risks-of-eating-sea-turtle-eggs-could-benefit-species/

A fossil that has been in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since it was discovered in 1951 is today helping

https://insider.si.edu/2016/08/new-species-extinct-river-dolphin-discovered-smithsonian-collection/

(Study is one of dozens to be presented by bird scientists this week at the 2016 North American Ornithological Conference in Washington, D.C.) To catch tuna

https://insider.si.edu/2016/08/fishing-gear-deaths-of-marine-birds-is-focus-of-smithsonian-ecologists-study/

Meet Scorpaenodes barrybrowni is a scorpionfish species newly discovered by Smithsonian scientists using a manned submersible in the deep-reef waters of the Caribbean island of Curaçao. It

https://insider.si.edu/2016/07/new-deep-delling-bright-red-scorpionfish-discovered-caribbean/

Great white sharks, killer whales, sea lions, even polar bears—the ocean is full of giant predators. But one of the ocean’s worst enemies is not

https://insider.si.edu/2016/07/beautiful-plastic-sculptures-tell-ugly-story-human-garbage-ocean/

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) celebrated with Panama the completion of the Panama Canal expansion project on June 26, 2016. The $5.6 billion engineering

https://insider.si.edu/2016/06/smithsonian-celebrates-panama-canal-expansion/

Profound ideas don’t need to be complicated. A simple cube made of aluminum tubing, a centerpiece of a new exhibit “Life in One Cubic Foot,”

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/rochester-polynesia-simple-cube-unveils-earths-dazzling-biological-diversity/

Oysters are keystone organisms in estuaries around the world, influencing water quality, constructing habitat and providing food for humans and wildlife. Yet their populations in

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/finding-a-more-sustainable-future-for-oysters-in-the-past/

In a recently completed survey of more than 3,000 fish species in 44 countries around the world marine biologists have discovered that communities with a

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/discovery-biodiversity-shields-fish-communities-from-warming/

Higher acidity in coastal waters can make fish more sensitive to low oxygen, causing them to become debilitated and suffocate in water with oxygen levels

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/cidification-low-oxygen-put-fish-double-jeopardy/

The results are in, 2016 is going to be a good year for blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. An iconic figure embedded in the

https://insider.si.edu/2016/04/smithsonian-expert-urges-caution-patience-on-blue-crab-recovery/

Ten years ago, cownose rays in the Atlantic got a bad rap when this species (Rhinoptera bonasus) was accused of excessively eating up scallops in

https://insider.si.edu/2016/04/cownose-rays-aquitted-not-guilty-decimating-chesapeake-oysters/

Smothered in tartar sauce and cheese it’s difficult to know just what species of fish lurks beneath the breaded surface of a fast-food fish sandwich.

https://insider.si.edu/2016/03/marine-scientist-developing-dna-database-to-track-caribbean-conch-and-lobster/

A social media celebrity was born last week when the bright lights and camera of NOAA’s remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer zoomed in on a

https://insider.si.edu/2016/03/ghost-octopod-shows-little-know-deep-sea-life/

Cobia, a promising fish for aquaculture, lives throughout the world’s oceans except in the Central and Eastern Pacific. In August 2015, a large number of

https://insider.si.edu/2016/02/scientists-panama-call-alert-cobia-invasive-fish-spreads/

Many animals change sex at some point in their lives, often after reaching a certain size. Snails called slipper limpets begin life as males, and

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/power-touch-sex-changing-snails-switch-sooner-together/

A Smithsonian team of scientists re-examined a fossil sperm whale for the first time in 90 years and created an entirely new group in the

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/call-me-albicetus-fossil-sperm-whale-is-named-in-honor-of-moby-dick/

Throughout 2015 the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Md., has marked its 50th year of operation. Now there’s another reason for SERC to

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/smithsonian-lab-receives-greengov-presidential-award/

How much is a wetland worth? It’s a question that has plagued policymakers, scientists and other leaders looking to protect their communities and slow down

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/new-report-enables-creation-of-carbon-credits-for-restored-wetlands/

Researchers have uncovered a fossil sea urchin that pushes back a fork in its family tree by 10 million years, according to a new study.

https://insider.si.edu/2015/11/newly-discovered-fossil-is-the-oldest-of-its-kind/

This year’s El Niño event is one of the strongest on record and is still ramping up. Large parts of the tropics are turning into

https://insider.si.edu/2015/10/major-el-nino-perfect-for-global-change-research/

Invasive species have become a problem in marine environments around the world, and the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are no exception. Non-native species of

https://insider.si.edu/2015/10/smithsonian-scientists-working-to-stop-invasions/

Here’s some good news that should hit you in the gut. A team of scientists searching thousands of environments for bacteria that produce the deadly

https://insider.si.edu/2015/10/survey-pinpoints-where-deadly-organic-mercury-is-accumulating-in-world-environments/

A word to the wise: don’t ask a paleontologist to pick a favorite fossil. It’s like asking your mother which child she loves most, or

https://insider.si.edu/2015/10/fossils-help-scientists-build-a-picture-of-the-past-and-present/

Contrary to popular imagery, massive volcanic eruptions or an asteroid impact may not have been the cause of the world’s first mass extinction. Rather, some

https://insider.si.edu/2015/09/did-mystery-worms-cause-worlds-first-mass-extinction/

When the population of one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most famous residents, the blue crab, went into rapid decline due to overfishing, the Smithsonian stepped

https://insider.si.edu/2015/09/waiter-theres-tag-crab/

Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have discovered a new genus and species of river dolphin that has long been extinct. They made the discovery after carefully

https://insider.si.edu/2015/09/fossil-specimen-reveals-a-new-species-of-ancient-river-dolphin-to-smithsonian-scientists/

Since researchers began surveys in the 1980s, coral reefs in the Caribbean have undergone widespread change following bleaching and disease epidemics that have reduced the

https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/study-reveals-agriculture-and-fishing-cause-coral-reef-decline/

The odds of being attacked and castrated by a variety of parasitic flatworms increases for marine horn snails the farther they are found from the

https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/parasitic-flatworms-flout-global-biodiversity-patterns/

Surplus mustard gas canisters and unexploded bombs dumped in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii after WWII, have become, scientists say, a potential reef that is

https://insider.si.edu/2015/07/old-bombs-chemical-weapons-now-home-for-deep-sea-starfish/

Tiny Anolis lizards preserved since the Miocene in amber are giving scientists a true appreciation of the meaning of community stability. Dating back some 15

https://insider.si.edu/2015/07/trapped-in-amber-ancient-fossils-reveal-remarkable-stability-of-caribbean-lizard-communities/

An international team of researchers from the United States and Germany have discovered a key missing link in the evolutionary history of turtles. The new

https://insider.si.edu/2015/06/key-link-in-turtle-evolution-discovered/

“When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters,” once a tagline of the American Lung Association, today it might easily describe what is happening in many

https://insider.si.edu/2015/06/gasping-for-air-nutrients-warming-trigger-ocean-oxygen-deficit/

New data just published in the journal Marine Mammal Science may help save the whales, or at least a good many of them. Using vertebrae

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/new-study-may-help-free-whales-from-fishing-rope/

The world’s coasts are home to more than 70 percent of the human population and experience intense development as a result. The rate of environmental

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/smithsonian-environmental-research-center-marks-50-years-of-making-a-difference/

Ever heard the joke about flying in from Mexico, and boy, are my arms tired? Try telling that to the blackpoll warbler. Researchers recently tracked

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/satellite-tracking-helps-with-curlew-conservation/

A case of mistaken identity turned out to be the key for proving that a prehistoric aquatic reptile did not lay eggs, but rather gave

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/fossil-proves-prehistoric-reptile-gave-birth-in-open-ocean/

Scientists examining the stomach contents of invasive lionfish caught on the inner barrier reef of Belize have discovered that nearly half of the diet of

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/in-belize-critically-endangered-wrasse-is-favorite-food-of-invasive-lionfish/

Point your smartphone at the skeleton of a vampire bat mounted in a museum case, wait a minute and you will see it wiggle, jump

https://insider.si.edu/2015/03/new-app-adds-virtual-flesh-to-victorian-era-bone-exhibit/

Yabbies, mudbugs, crayfish, crawdads, call them what you will, but one-third of the world’s crayfish species are facing extinction according to a recent report by

https://insider.si.edu/2015/03/coming-soon-vacancy-at-the-crawdad-hole/

Native Americans and America’s early colonists ate many more blue crabs than modern researchers previously thought, according to a team of scientists studying crab remains

https://insider.si.edu/2015/02/american-indians-colonists-healthy-appetite-crabs-study-shows/

Tiny and transparent the marine crustacean Paraphronima gracilis sees the world through two large eyes that envelope its head like a high-tech space helmet. Now,

https://insider.si.edu/2015/01/bizarre-ocean-amphipod-has-16-retinas-in-each-of-its-very-big-eyes/

Eaten raw and thinly sliced, the dark-red belly meat of the Pacific bluefin tuna is highly prized—and priced—for its rich oily flavor by sashimi and

https://insider.si.edu/2015/01/desire-pacific-bluefin-puts-fish-red-list-threatened-species/

A new study by Florida State University and Smithsonian Institution biologists shows that bleaching events brought on by rising sea temperatures are having a detrimental

https://insider.si.edu/2014/11/33141/

A full 94 percent of the dead zones in the world’s oceans lie in regions expected to warm at least 2 degrees Celsius by the

https://insider.si.edu/2014/11/climate-change-expected-expand-majority-ocean-dead-zones/

In the wild, wide milk chocolate-brown stripes adorn the beautiful smooth, white shells of the chambered nautilus, a deep-diving mollusk from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. But

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/nautilus-shell-deformity-puzzles-scientists/

Left-handed snails, giant wombats, spiny trilobites, zombie ants, glyptodonts…these are a few of the fascinating animals and plants whose fossils spring to life across the

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/new-book/

Archived feed of this symposium » The world is changing at a rapid pace. Scientists have documented significant changes during the past century in climate,

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/live-symposium-anthropocene/

Their flavor is a unique blend of lobster and shrimp say lovers of the savory South American crustaceans called “langostinos.” Simmered with garlic, lime juice,

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/squat-lobsters-rulers-ocean-floor/

Imagine sitting down at your favorite restaurant when something under the table begins painfully pinching and snipping at your toes. This is basically how T.

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/32538/

The report card is in for the state of the birds in the USA. So how did we do? Certainly not an A+ or even

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/our-birds-are-in-real-trouble-can-we-fix-it/

One hundred years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the nation’s top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/state-of-the-birds-report-assesses-health-of-our-nations-birds/

Wetlands Wetlands are one of the habitats to benefit most from conservation. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act has enabled strategic conservation projects covering a

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/state-of-the-birds-four-critical-us-habitats/

Q: Are things getting better or worse for birds in the United States? The 2014 The State of the Birds report provides both encouraging and

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/state-of-the-birds-frequently-asked-questions-2/

In theory, crabs of the species Planes major should stay true to their mates for life. Heterosexual pairs of these small crustaceans live on loggerhead

https://insider.si.edu/2014/09/new-study-monogamous-crabs-switch-mates-opportunity-arises/

The practice of selectively fishing male blue crabs in the Chesapeake—intended to give females a chance to reproduce—may have a hidden cost. A Bay without

https://insider.si.edu/2014/07/males-blue-crab-population-may-dive/

The name Panama is said to mean “abundance of fish.” Now a new study estimates that between 1950 and 2010, the amount of fish taken

https://insider.si.edu/2014/07/scientists-say-panama-fish-catch-vastly-reported/

Even tiny crustaceans scuttling across the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean floor will feel the effects of climate change, according to a new study

https://insider.si.edu/2014/06/climate-change-will-impact-even-deep-ocean-ecosystems-scientists-say/

WHAT A new species of stick catfish from South America, so called because the thin, elongated bodies of these fish mimic sticks. About 5 inches

https://insider.si.edu/2014/06/meet-new-catfish-f-yarigu/

The Republic of Panama’s proposal to implement four Traffic Separation Schemes for commercial vessels entering and exiting the Panama Canal and ports was approved unanimously

https://insider.si.edu/2014/05/panama-saves-whales-protects-world-trade/

For the first time in roughly 2 million years, melting Arctic sea ice is connecting the north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans. The newly opened

https://insider.si.edu/2014/05/global-warming-opening-arctic-large-wave-invasive-species/

A newly released study focusing on an extinct species, the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis), has revealed just how evolutionarily unique its only two living

https://insider.si.edu/2014/05/extinct-relative-reveals-rarity-last-two-remaining-monk-seal-species/

Identifying larval stages of marine fishes in the open ocean is difficult because the young fishes often bear little or no resemblance to the adults

https://insider.si.edu/2014/05/smithsonian-scientists-link-unusual-fish-larva-florida-new-sea-bass-species-curacao/

Matthew C. Larsen, associate director for climate and land-use change at the U.S. Geological Survey, has been appointed the Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research

https://insider.si.edu/2014/04/matthew-larsen-lead-smithsonian-tropical-research-institute/

Mention coral reefs and images like snorkeling, tropical fish and sunny island getaways pop to mind. Vacation packages are not being offered, however, for many

https://insider.si.edu/2014/03/cold-dark-and-lonely-deep-water-corals-thrive-where-the-sun-never-shines/

Chip a tooth and expose a nerve and the result can be a searing sensitivity to hot and cold. The hard outer layer of a

https://insider.si.edu/2014/03/researchers-map-pathway-narwhals-sensitive-tusk-brain/

It has all the hallmarks of a paleontological crime scene: a massive graveyard along a remote desert highway containing the fossil bones of at least

https://insider.si.edu/2014/02/algae-assassin-found-responsible-for-whale-mass-grave-in-chile/

A new coral species, Psammogorgia hookeri, has been collected by scuba divers from rocky ledges at depths to 25 meters in Peru’s Paracas National Reserve. The

https://insider.si.edu/2014/02/fiery-red-coral-species-discovered-in-the-peruvian-pacific/

Animal keepers at the National Zoo have been hand feeding a female gray seal pup, born Jan. 21 at 10:21 p.m., in the holding area

https://insider.si.edu/2014/01/first-gray-seal-pup-up-born-at-national-zoo-in-23-years/

As mangrove trees lose ground to deforestation and urban sprawl, one development seems to be giving them a boost: climate change. Fewer winter cold snaps

https://insider.si.edu/2014/01/poleward-expansion-of-mangroves-is-a-response-to-decrease-in-extreme-cold/

For scientists who study non-insect invertebrates, the sheer diversity of these odd and fascinating creatures is both intoxicating and daunting. Occupying niches in habitats the

https://insider.si.edu/2013/12/non-insect-invertebrates-are-focus-of-new-global-genome-sequencing-alliance/

Left to themselves, coastal wetlands can adapt to sea-level rise. But humans could be sabotaging some of their best defenses, according to a review paper

https://insider.si.edu/2013/12/burdened-with-human-built-structures-wetlands-are-sunk/

Found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas and oceans, Dolabrifera dolabrifera is a species of sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae.

https://insider.si.edu/2013/12/chemical-from-sea-hares-found-to-combat-leishmaniasis/

An ancient new player has entered the debate over global warming and it is pink. Labrador fishermen call them “red rocks” because underwater they resemble

https://insider.si.edu/2013/11/ancient-algal-tree-rings-show-dramatic-decline-in-arctic-and-sub-arctic-sea-ice/

The Mortlock Islands flying fox, a large, breadfruit-eating bat native to a few remote and tiny Pacific islands, has long been regarded as one of

https://insider.si.edu/2013/10/scientists-shine-light-on-worlds-least-studied-bat-mortlock-islands-flying-fox/

Hot spots of mercury pollution in aquatic sediments and soils can contaminate local food webs and threaten ecosystems, but cleaning them up can be expensive

https://insider.si.edu/2013/10/research-discovery-toxicity-of-mercury-hot-spots-can-be-reduced-with-application-of-activated-carbon/

Microbes that live in rice paddies, northern peat bogs and other previously unexpected environments are among the bacteria that can generate highly toxic methylmercury, researchers

https://insider.si.edu/2013/09/toxic-methylmercury-producing-microbes-more-widespread-than-realized/

In 2009, during an expedition by a Russian research ship, a small length of yellow flesh about 5 centimeters long was dredged up from the

https://insider.si.edu/2013/08/last-seen-140-years-ago-a-deep-sea-worm-resurfaces-delighting-scientists/

Katie Cramer is a MarineGEO Post-Doctoral Fellow and travels to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama throughout the year to conduct research. Her recent paper

https://insider.si.edu/2013/08/qa-katie-cramer-on-the-long-term-human-impact-on-coral-reefs-in-carribbean-panama/

A team of researchers has for the first time mapped the above ground carbon density of an entire country in high fidelity. They integrated field

https://insider.si.edu/2013/07/research-team-creates-first-carbon-map-of-an-entire-country-panama/

Fond of a range of marine and freshwater vegetation such as turtle grass and eelgrass, the Florida manatee spends most of its waking hours grazing

https://insider.si.edu/2013/07/algae-bloom-toxins-may-make-floridas-manatees-and-sea-turtles-susceptible-to-deadly-accidents/

Under elevated carbon dioxide levels, wetland plants can absorb up to 32 percent more carbon than they do at current levels, according to a 19-year

https://insider.si.edu/2013/07/high-co2-spurs-wetlands-to-absorb-more-carbon/

In June, Odile Madden, materials scientist at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, was a participant on a 6-day interdisciplinary expedition to a number of beaches

https://insider.si.edu/2013/07/qa-plastics-expert-odile-madden-on-plastic-debris-in-alaskan-waters/

Emmett Duffy, currently the Gluckman Professor of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, has been appointed director of the Smithsonian’s

https://insider.si.edu/2013/06/emmett-duffy-named-director-of-smithsonians-tennenbaum-marine-observatories-network/

Phragmites australis, the common reed, has been a component of North American marshes for thousands of years. However, a novel genetic lineage, Phragmites australis australis,

https://insider.si.edu/2013/06/invasive-reed/

Did you know the Smithsonian created the world’s first full cast of a whale? It was a blue whale exhibited in 1904 at the St.

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/100-years-of-whales-at-the-smithsonian/

Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs,

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/first-turtle-shells-are-40-million-years-older-than-previously-realized/

                  The Smithsonian Libraries will open its new exhibition “Whales: From Bone to Book” in the Smithsonian’s National Museum

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/exhibition-whales-from-bone-to-book/

The impact of industrial fishing on coastal ecosystems has been studied for many years. But how it affects food webs in the open ocean―a vast

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/scientists-find-impact-of-open-ocean-industrial-fishing-within-centuries-of-bird-bones/

What can you do to bring some of the Smithsonian’s 137 million objects to life? Put them in 3-D! This is a full-time job for

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/3d-scanning-at-the-smithsonian/

Rope, golf balls, sweat pants, bottles and aluminum cans are a few of the discarded items biologist Matt Klope says he has found inside the

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/gray-whale-specimen-a-major-addition-to-natural-history-museum-collection/

Scientists from the Smithsonian and the University of Rhode Island have found unsuspected linkages between the oxidation state of iron in volcanic rocks and variations

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/scientists-uncover-relationship-between-lavas-erupting-on-sea-floor-and-deep-carbon-cycle/

Miniature camels and horses, a rhinoceros and a giant bear-dog are among fossils unearthed in the recent excavations of the Panama Canal expansion project. These

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/first-five-years-of-panama-canal-excavations-reveal-fossil-finds/

Covered in venomous spines the exotic and strikingly banded Indo-Pacific lionfish would be a painful mouthful to any creature that may try to catch and

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/andrew-sellers-turns-lionfish-invasion-into-research-opportunity/

Recent spectroscopic analysis of macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus) crest feathers and king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) neck feathers have shown they contain a yellow pigment that

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/yellow-pigment-in-penguin-feathers-is-chemically-distinct-spectoscopic-studies-show/

All bear species except for one live in either temperate or tropical woodlands. Only the polar bear is a stranger to the forest, living and

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/polar-bears-in-a-warming-world-qa-with-don-moore-of-the-national-zoo/

Striking Caribbean sunsets occur when particles in the air scatter incoming sunlight. But a particulate shadow over the sea may have effects underwater. A research

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/human-shadow-cast-over-the-caribbean-slows-coral-growth/

A century from now researchers will gather data from a forest in Maryland to see how, during the previous 100 years, varying levels of species

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/smithsonian-scientists-launch-100-year-project-to-examine-the-future-of-forests/

Africa isn’t the kind of place you might expect to find penguins. But one species lives along Africa’s southern coast today, and newly found fossils

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/penguins-once-thrived-in-africa-one-endangered-species-lives-there-today/

The humble salamander may provide evidence to support a controversial claim that North and South America were joined together much earlier than previously thought. The

https://insider.si.edu/2013/03/salamander-dna-reveals-evidence-of-older-land-connection-between-central-and-south-america/

The uplift of the Isthmus of Panama 2.6 million years ago formed a land-bridge that has long thought to be the crucial step in the

https://insider.si.edu/2013/03/25308/

The remora's sucker disc is "one of the most remarkable and most highly modified skeletal structures among vertebrates."

https://insider.si.edu/2013/02/new-study-proves-the-remoras-sucker-disc-is-a-highly-modified-dorsal-fin-qa-with-co-author-david-johnson/

Clearly visible connecting the dark-purple cephalopods was the white “terminal organ” or penis of the male, extending out through the male’s funnel.

https://insider.si.edu/2013/01/first-detailed-sex-video-of-deep-sea-squid-penetrates-long-standing-mysteries-as-to-how-these-animals-mate/

Frontispiece illustration of “flies” from the 1882 book American game fishes, their habits, habitat, and peculiarities; how, when, and where to angle for them, featuring

https://insider.si.edu/2013/01/illustration-from-american-game-fishes-their-habits-habitat-and-peculiarities/

This 1889 scientific illustration of a vampire squid from Smithsonian celebrates Halloween. The squid’s jet-black skin, the caped appearance of the webbing between its arms

https://insider.si.edu/2012/10/vampire-squid/

The goal of the project—the Smithsonian’s Tennenbaum Marine Observatories—is to monitor the ocean’s coastal ecosystems over a long period of time.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/10/smithsonian-launches-global-marine-biodiversity-project-with-10-million-donation/

A rare Longman’s beaked whale found stranded on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2010 has scientists in Hawaii on the alert for a deadly disease known as morbillivirus which can lead to high mort...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/10/rare-whale-beached-in-hawaii-infected-with-deadly-marine-mammal-disease/

A specimen recently pulled from deep in the southwest Atlantic may represent a new species of squid, say scientist who have studied the animal’s unusual morphology. But then again, it may not�...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/10/as-they-grow-squid-change-dramatically-making-scientists-cautious-about-naming-a-new-species/

A new study finds that since 1985, half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef coral has died.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/10/smithsonian-marine-biologist-nancy-knowlton-discusses-great-barrier-reef-coral-dieoff-on-pbs-newshour/

Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are recommending that Panama adopt revised traffic patterns and slower speeds for vessels crossing the Gulf of Panama to reduce the ri...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/09/ships-must-slow-down-for-humpback-whales-in-gulf-of-panama-scientists-say/

This copepod Aleutha potter,officially named and described in 2007, is found in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica. Copepod (Kope = Greek for “oar” Podos =

https://insider.si.edu/2012/09/world-of-copepods/

One such parasite lurks in Chesapeake Bay: an invasive barnacle that hijacks a mud crab’s reproductive system and impregnates it with parasite larvae—even if the crab is male.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/09/undersea-parasite-turns-male-mud-crabs-female/

Coral reefs worldwide are being destroyed by changes in ocean temperature and chemistry faster than at any time since the last reef crisis 55 million years ago, thousands of marine scientists war...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/07/coral-reef-emergency-2600-scientists-call-for-worldwide-rescue/

This image shows a 3-D scan of the type specimen of Odobenocetops, the walrus whale, in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The skull

https://insider.si.edu/2012/07/walrus-whale-3d-skull-scan/

Their research revealed that the types of waterbirds that inhabit urban estuaries are influenced not only by urban development, but also by a far more natural process―rain.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/06/scientists-find-that-rain-may-not-always-be-a-welcome-thing-to-waterbirds/

Last summer and this spring Boy Scout Arthur Carlton-Jones (shown here), working in conjunction with researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md.,

https://insider.si.edu/2012/06/fishing-worms-help-spread-invasive-species/

Scientists from the Smithsonian and University of British Columbia have discovered a sensory organ in the chin of rorqual whales that communicates to the brain. It orchestrates the dramatic adjus...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/05/scientists-discover-organ-in-baleen-whales-that-choreographs-movement-of-their-massive-jaws-and-throat-pouch/

Incredibly, the narwhale’s only visible tooth is outside of its mouth. Its tusk, in fact, is a giant canine tooth—that can grow as long as 9 feet!

https://insider.si.edu/2012/04/for-dentist-the-narwhals-smile-is-a-mystery-of-evolution/

The crustaceans are much more effective when they fight together than when they fight alone, a process McKeon calls the Multiple Defender Effect. “It is a clear example of synergy, and one that...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/03/preventing-home-invasion-means-fighting-side-by-side-for-coral-dwelling-crabs-and-shrimp/

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center has created NEMESIS--National Estuarine and Marine Exotic Species Information System--an online public database that provides key information about t...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/03/serc-database/

Scientists conducting deep-sea research in the Galapagos have described a new species of catshark. The new shark is approximately a foot long and has a chocolate-brown coloration with pale, irreg...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/03/new-species-of-deep-sea-catshark-described-from-the-galapagos/

A newly described species of toothed whale that lived some 3-4 million years ago during the Pliocene, is causing scientists to reconsider what is known about its living cold-water relatives: narw...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/03/new-fossil-whale-species-raises-mystery-regarding-why-narwhals-and-belugas-live-only-in-cold-water/

A mysterious cycle of booms and busts in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million years could be tied to a periodic uplifting of the world's continents, scientists report

https://insider.si.edu/2012/02/boom-and-bust-cycle-of-marine-biodiversity-every-60-million-years-linked-to-uplifting-of-continents/

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has released the first completely portable bilingual species identification guide for the shore fishes of the tropical Eastern Pacific as a free iPhone...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/02/first-fish-app-from-the-smithsonian-free-on-itunes-the-smithsonian-guide-to-the-shore-fishes-of-the-tropical-eastern-pacific/

A box jellyfish from the Caribbean appears to have recently become established in the red mangroves of Florida near Boca Raton.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/02/caribbean-box-jellyfish-now-thriving-in-southern-florida/

"X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out," is a new exhibition of striking x-rays that reveal the complex bone structure of fishes in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/02/new-exhibition-sees-fish-from-inside-out/

A selection of fascinating facts about fishes from the new book "Fishes: The Animal Answer Guide"

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/five-funky-and-5-fun-fish-facts/

The new island visible in the satellite photograph is the top of a giant shield volcano located on the rift axis in the Red Sea where the continental plates of Africa and Arabia are pulling apart...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/a-hot-new-island-has-just-popped-up-in-the-red-sea-what-is-going-on-smithsonian-scientists-explain/

In this fun, accessible and informative book, ichthyologists Gene Helfman, professor emeritus at the University of Georgia, and Bruce Collette, of the Division of Fishes at the Smithsonian’s Na...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/new-book-fishes-the-animal-answer-guide/

As a coastal archaeologist and expert in prehistoric and historic settlement sites in the Chesapeake Bay region, Darrin Lowery of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Univer...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/rising-seas-development-are-altering-prehistoric-artifacts-along-the-chesapeakes-coast/

In a laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., scientist João Canning Clode and colleagues tested the cold-water tolerances of a number of invasive green por...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/severe-cold-spells-may-spell-trouble-for-fair-weather-marine-invasives/

  This photo shows developing embryonic cells of the coral species Acropora tenuis, from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/great-barrier-reef-coral-acropora-tenuis/

Both investigations were carried out through DNA analysis of fish tissue performed in a laboratory using a U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocol that originated largely at the Smithsonian’...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/12/smithsonians-work-with-dna-barcoding-is-making-seafood-substitution-and-mislabeling-easier-to-catch/

Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and other partnering organizations spent two weeks at the end of November collecting sperm and ...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/12/smithsonian-scientists-help-build-first-frozen-repository-of-great-barrier-reef-coral/

This image shows one of three newly discovered North Atlantic deep sea acorn worms–Purple species–recently captured by scientists from deep in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. These

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/north-atlantic-deep-sea-acorn-worm-purple-species/

DNA analysis has established that creatures captured during a voyage to the mid-Atlantic are members of the Torquaratoridae; a recently discovered family of acorn worms.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/strange-deep-sea-creatures-confirmed-as-three-new-species/

A fragment of whale rib found in a North Carolina strip mine is offering scientists a rare glimpse at the interactions between prehistoric sharks and whales some 3- to 4- million years ago during...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/details-of-ancient-shark-attack-preserved-in-fossil-whale-bone/

The first DNA barcoding survey of crustaceans living on samples of dead coral taken from the Indian, Pacific and Caribbean oceans suggests that the diversity of organisms living on the world’s ...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/dna-barcode-survey-suggests-coral-reef-biodiversity-is-seriously-underestimated/

For three years—2001, 2002 and 2008—on Teopa Beach in Jalisco, Mexico, researchers examined the shell, neck and flippers of female turtles that had come out onto the beach to nest, collecting...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/sea-turtle-hitchhikers-idd-in-new-survey/

This illustration by Carl Buell depicts Ocucajea picklingi (center) and Supayacetus muizoni (bottom), two ancient whales that lived off the Peruvian coast during the Eocene,

https://insider.si.edu/2011/10/ancient-whales/

Halocoryza acapulcana Whitehead (Acapulco Saline Catarrh Beetle), described in 1966 by Donald R. Whitehead. This image is from a recent paper by Terry L. Erwin,

https://insider.si.edu/2011/10/halocoryza-acapulcana-whitehead/

These green crabs have been doing a number on native shellfish. They eat a lot of clams. And they're a very cosmopolitan species—they've now spread all over, to places as far afield as the West...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/09/location-matters-for-invasive-aquatic-species-its-better-to-start-upstream/

Depending on where the fish disperse from, the use of ‘stepping stones', flotsam or simply being an adult can help in the journey to find a new home.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/09/ability-to-raft-with-flotsam-and-use-non-reef-habitats-helps-in-tropical-fish-dispersal-study-finds/

Just as people use airplanes to fly overseas, marine snails may use birds to fly over land,” said Mark Torchin, staff scientist at the Smithsonian.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/09/hitchhiking-snails-fly-from-ocean-to-ocean/

Anoplogaster cornuta, commonly known as the fangtooth fish, have shortened, deep bodies with a characteristically large mouth lined with sharp, fang-like teeth. This deep-sea fish

https://insider.si.edu/2011/09/anoplogaster-cornuta-or-fangtooth/

For the first time in decades, researchers have found a new bird species in the United States. Based on a specimen collected in 1963 on Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, biologists hav...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/08/bryans-shearwater-new-seabird-species-from-northwestern-hawaii-discovered/

A small-eel like fish newly discovered in a cave in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific represents an extremely primitive "living fossil."

https://insider.si.edu/2011/08/video-newly-discovered-eel-a-living-fossil/

Alaska’s pristine coastline is ripe for an influx of invasive marine species such as the European green crab and the rough periwinkle (an Atlantic sea snail) warns a new study by a team of scie...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/08/alaskas-cold-waters-no-barrier-to-invasive-marine-species-scientists-say/

Ecologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center measure the growth rate of sedge grass in a brackish Chesapeake Bay marsh. Fed a diet rich in

https://insider.si.edu/2011/08/grass-experiment-mimics-global-change-scenario-at-serc/

This is the first report of this invasive species in this area, and may indicate a recent range expansion of the snakehead population.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/northern-snakehead-fish-found-in-marylands-rhode-river/

A team of scientists have found that because of this, high summer temperatures have been a strong influence in determining bill size in some birds, particularly species of sparrows that favor sal...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/its-no-sweat-for-salt-marsh-sparrows-to-beat-the-heat-if-they-have-a-larger-bill/

Gray whales survived many cycles of global cooling and warming over the past few million years, likely by exploiting a more varied diet than they do today, according to a new study by University ...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/a-varied-diet-has-helped-gray-whales-survive-for-millions-of-years-study-reveals/

A scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute uses a pick to dislodge the fossil skull of an extinct toothed whale from sediments on the

https://insider.si.edu/2011/06/fossil-skull-of-an-extinct-toothed-whale-excavated-from-panamanian-sediments/

Puffer fish (Tetraodontidae) are masters of self-defense. When threatened they blow up like a balloon. Not only does this make them harder to swallow, but

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/puffer-fish-voucher-library/

Lookdown fish (Selene vomer) specimens in an x-ray exposure from the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service exhibition “X-ray Vision: Fish Inside Out.” The collection of these

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/lookdown-fish/

This new research, which involved both surface and aerial surveys, has revealed an enormous aggregation of whale sharks—the largest ever reported—with up to 420 individuals off the coast of t...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/scientists-discover-the-largest-assembly-of-whale-sharks-ever-recorded/

By compiling and comparing long-term data from stranding records and visual sighting records, both taken from nearly every ocean basin in the world, Pyenson verified that stranding records “fai...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/new-study-reveals-whale-stranding-data-is-faithful-reflection-of-the-living-population/

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and partnering organizations will build a frozen repository of Great Barrier Reef coral sperm and embryonic cells. Genetic banks comp...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/smithsonian-conservation-biology-institute-to-create-frozen-repository-for-the-great-barrier-reef/

A study published in the journal Global Change Biology finds that while fertilizer has been the dominant source of nitrogen pollution in Caribbean coastal ecosystems for the past 50 years, such p...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/national-museum-of-natural-historys-coral-collection-used-in-caribbean-pollution-study/

Candy Feller, senior ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., will lead an effort to track more than 100 miles of Florida mangrove forests that are encroachin...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/smithsonian-led-team-to-investigate-northern-movement-of-florida-magrove-forests/

A new bacterial genome sequence could help researchers solve a mystery as to how microorganisms produce a highly toxic form of mercury.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/bacteria-genome/

Giant squid eye, 2008 Giant squid have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom—at up to 10 inches in diameter, they are the size of

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/giant-squid-eye-2008/

To help regulators and engineers develop and test such treatment systems, and ultimately enforce these standards, a team of researchers developed a statistical model to see how to count small, sc...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/smithsonian-scientists-help-block-ship-borne-bioinvaders-with-new-screening-strategy/

A team of scientists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., is taking a closer look at how rising acidification of ocean water may be impacting estuaries and near s...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/oysters-on-floating-plates-help-scientists-study-impact-of-estuary-acidification-and-shell-growth/

The words “box jelly” may bring to mind something sweet and tasty, but the banded box jelly of Bonaire is a highly venomous jellyfish with

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/ohboya-its-the-bonaire-banded-box-jellyfish/

Funded by BP through the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the scientists will make the 10-day trip aboard the institute’s 115-foot research vessel. The divers, scientists and photographers wi...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/gulf-of-mexico-survey-will-benchmark-diversity-of-ocean-floor/

Evidence for a diversified sea-based economy among North American inhabitants dating from 12,200 to 11,400 years ago is emerging from three sites on California's Channel Islands.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/californias-channel-islands-may-have-once-held-north-americas-earliest-seafaring-economy/

Tiny Antarctic marine creatures collected 100 years ago by British Royal Navy explorer Robert Falcon Scott are giving scientists new clues about polar environmental change.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/tiny-antarctic-creatures-collected-100-years-ago-help-prove-carbon-uptake-and-storage-in-antarctic-ocean/

Using modern genetic analysis, combined with traditional morphology, scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Ocean Science Foundation have discovered seven

https://insider.si.edu/2011/02/smithsonian-scientists-discover-seven-new-species-of-blenny-fish/

The awarded film features STRI marine biologist Héctor M. Guzman diving with a group of five whale sharks while traveling in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. In the video, Guzmán tags a radiotrans...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/02/whale-sharks-featured-in-award-winning-documentary-following-the-work-of-tropical-research-institutes-hector-guzman/

The male’s fluke design helps it overcome the drag caused by their long tusks, the scientists determined. The female’s fluke design gives them increased speed for diving while foraging.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/02/narwhal-flukes-help-compensate-for-drag-caused-by-tusk/

A recent experiment by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has revealed just how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide will deliver a one-two

https://insider.si.edu/2011/01/rising-ocean-temperatures-and-acidity-may-prove-a-deadly-one-two-punch-for-the-worlds-corals/

Twenty years ago scientists at the Marine Invasions Lab of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., began studying the interactions between native grass

https://insider.si.edu/2011/01/invasive-oriental-shrimp-found-in-chesapeake-bay-by-smithsonian-scientists/

A research team from The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Virginia's Old Dominion University will be awarded $110,999 to develop a tool to help seagrass restorers predict which place...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/12/smithsonian-scientist-to-help-with-chesapeake-bay-seagrass-restoration/

The Scarlet Knight, as the glider is called, made nautical history as the first submersible glider to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean.

https://insider.si.edu/2010/12/rutgers-glider-to-be-added-to-the-collections-of-the-natural-history-museum/

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., and the Alaska Sea Grant Program of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, were recently identified as the

https://insider.si.edu/2010/12/smithsonian-scientists-help-identify-and-eradicate-marine-invasive-species-in-alaska/

The most puzzling characteristic of deep-sea dragonfishes (stromiids) is found where their backbone (or vertebral column) approaches the back of their skull. In the anterior region of the bac...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/11/deep-sea-dragonfish-research/

A new study suggests that the annual long-distance migration of gray whales may be a relatively recent phenomenon, and that only a few thousand years ago, these marine mammals stayed much closer ...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/11/ancient-gray-whales-may-have-been-homebodies/

Current plans to protect the Chesapeake Bay include planting trees along hundreds of miles of streams that empty into the Bay. This study provides realistic limits for how much these buffers migh...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/study-backs-restoring-green-buffers-along-streams-to-reduce-chesapeake-bay-pollution/

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving ...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/scientists-issue-call-to-action-for-archaeological-sites-threatened-by-rising-seas-urban-development/

Healthy reefs with more corals and fish generate predictably greater levels of noise, according to researchers working in Panama. By analysing recordings of coral reefs from the Las Perlas Archip...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/healthy-coral-reefs-are-noisier/

Scientists and local dive operators first noticed coral bleaching in the waters surrounding Isla Colon, in Panama’s Bocas del Toro province in July. Smithsonian staff scientist Nancy Knowlton a...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/coral-bleaching-event-caused-by-warming-ocean-waters-is-witnessed-in-panama/

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute conducted three different kinds of genetics tests and all yielded the same result—the Galapagos seabirds have been genetically diff...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/09/genetic-puzzle-magnificent-frigatebirds-of-the-galapagos-islands-are-distinct-species/

Breitburg and her team want to determine just how much stress they cause. Over the next five years they will conduct a series of lab and field experiments that examine how diel-cycling hypoxia an...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/09/smithsonian-ecologists-to-examine-dead-zones-in-chesapeak-with-1-4-million-noaa-grant/

The anemones—both of which are commonly called Tealia red anemones under the species of Urticina—spawned in late April and early May, just days apart. Henley collected the eggs and sperm from...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/08/national-zoo-scientists-successfully-grow-two-species-of-anemones-using-coral-techniques/

Take to the water with this BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO about Maryland blue crab research at the Smithsonian's Environmental Research Center. Fisheries Ecologist Eric Johnson takes viewers on a journ...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/08/maryland-blue-crab-science-smithsonian/

Unless action is taken now, coral reefs and many of the animals that depend on them may cease to exist within the next 40 years, causing the first global extinction of a worldwide ecosystem durin...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/08/first-frozen-repository-of-hawaiian-coral-established-by-scientists-at-the-smithsonian-and-univeristy-of-hawaii/

Two grass species that had been relatively rare in the plots, Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata, began to respond vigorously to the excess nitrogen. Eventually the grasses became much more a...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/06/scientists-find-nitrogen-pollution-alters-global-change-scenarios-from-the-ground-up/

Describing a species is a serious undertaking. In the case of T. acutus, Coats and his collaborators documented its microscopic life cycle, conducted extensive DNA analysis and unearthed scientif...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/06/introducing-the-parasitic-dinoflagellate-tintinnophagus-acutus/

More than 25 years ago, researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab began taking weekley surveys of the species that make their way in and out...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/05/weir-on-muddy-river-allows-long-term-census-of-animals-in-this-chesapeake-bay-tributary/

“Our guide celebrates the beauty of some of the most attractive inhabitants of Panama’s undersea realm and provides an indispensable, easy-to-use tool for their identification,” say the Lit...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/02/researchers-compile-colorful-on-line-guide-to-marine-algae-of-panama/

It’s not an exaggeration to say Hedrick was ecstatic when she peered into her inverted phase contrast microscope and found "Amphisolenia quadrispina" floating in her sample. “For 20 years I�...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/01/the-dinoflagellate-amphisolenia/

It is one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world, yet dramatic changes are in store for the Chesapeake Bay in coming

https://insider.si.edu/2009/11/climate-change-may-drastically-alter-chesapeake-bay-scientists-say/

Tidal Freshwater Wetlands focuses on wetlands found in North America and Europe near the mouths of rivers that flow into estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay.

https://insider.si.edu/2009/11/new-book-tidal-freshwater-wetlands/

Invasive species, contaminants, excessive nutrient's and sediment are just some of the many factors threatening sensitive wetlands and seagrass beds.

https://insider.si.edu/2009/11/smithsonian-to-lead-study-on-degradation-of-nearshore-coastal-habitats/

The giant squid was collected during a 60-day scientific study in which NOAA scientists were studying the availability and diversity of sperm whale prey. The squid was caught in a trawl net pulle...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/09/smithsonian-receives-giant-squid-caught-in-trawl-net-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

A recent survey of the bottom-dwelling animals of the Chesapeake has revealed that communities of even these relatively hardy organisms are under stress. Many regions of the bay are becoming inho...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/08/bottom-dwelling-creatures-in-the-chesapeake-bay-need-more-oxygen-study-finds/

Already under siege from overfishing, disease and poor water quality, the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay today stands at 2 percent of what it was in colonial times. Now, new data show th...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/08/rising-acidification-of-estuary-waters-spells-trouble-for-chesapeake-bay-oysters/

A new Smithsonian study that examines 10 million years of the evolution of tiny coral-like organisms called cupuladriid bryzoans has revealed that some species of this organism lingered on earth ...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/08/fossils-of-tiny-cupuladriid-colonies-reveal-extinction-can-lag-more-than-a-million-years-after-its-cause/