Featured Creatures

A more acidic ocean means less calcium carbonate available for healthy shell building.

Because of the walrus’s dependence on ice, the greatest threat to walruses is the loss of ice due to climate change. 2023 was the sixth-warmest year in the Arctic since reliable records began in 1900, and the 2023 summer was the region’s warmest on record.

Seabirds are typically top predators in ocean ecosystems and often indicators of ocean health

Beetles come in a diversity of shapes and sizes. Ladybugs may be the most familiar and beloved beetle but there are 350,000 described species of beetles. That means there are likely thousands more that scientists don’t know about.

A spectacular-looking example of an animal in the plankton is Glaucus, a pelagic (open sea) sea slug. Sea slugs are nudibranchs, in the mollusc phylum. The blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus) is also called the blue dragon, sea swallow or blue angel.

We’re in awe of the charismatic marine megafauna Mobula. These are the manta and devil rays — two manta species and seven devil ray species

Clam Worms use their body segments (parapodia) in locomotion, to move and burrow into sand and mud. These segments are also used for respiration and sensing the environment. The parapodia are covered in sensory bristles that can “taste” chemicals in the water and sense current changes and act as feelers.

Important in the diverse deep-sea habitats where they live, brittle stars are ecosystem engineers, stirring-up sediment as they dig, recycling nutrients on the seafloor in the process. And they’re important prey of fish and various invertebrates including crabs and sea stars.

Sharks are essential to maintaining the species below them in the food chain and serve as an indicator for overall ocean health.

The Octopus Garden, as scientists named the site, is located at the base of the Davidson Seamount, in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Scientists have seen thousands of octopuses there— the largest congregation of octopuses discovered to date. This unique behavior raised a lot of questions for the scientists: why do the female octopuses congregate here?