Upside-Down Jellyfish: The Seabed Resident That Faces Its Partners Toward Sunlight
Discover why Cassiopea jellyfish rest upside down, how algae inside their tissues share food, and why these animals also capture tiny prey.
Marine Life
15 stories
Comb Jelly: Why This Transparent Ocean Animal Shimmers With Rainbows
Discover why comb jellies shimmer with rainbow colors, how their comb rows move them, and why that reflected light differs from bioluminescence.
Flower Hat Jellyfish: The Colorful Coastal Hunter With Coiling Tentacles
Meet the flower hat jelly, a coastal hydrozoan with colorful tentacles, a patterned bell, and a life that includes resting near the seabed.
Basket Star: The Sea Animal That Turns Its Branching Arms Into a Net
Discover basket stars, brittle-star relatives whose branching arms spread into living feeding nets and curl toward a mouth beneath the central body.
Crown-of-Thorns Starfish: The Spiny Coral Eater With a Complicated Role
Learn how crown-of-thorns starfish eat coral, why population outbreaks can damage reefs, and why these native animals need careful scientific management.
Blue Sea Star: The Reef Animal With a Color That Looks Almost Unreal
Meet Linckia laevigata, the blue sea star of Indo-Pacific reefs, and discover its tube feet, varied colors, and life on the tropical seabed.
Giant Clam: The Huge Reef Mollusk With a Sun-Powered Partnership
Explore the giant clam's colorful mantle, partnership with microscopic algae, filter feeding, and the conservation challenges facing this reef giant.
Glass Squid: How Transparency Helps an Ocean Hunter Disappear
Discover glass squid, transparent members of the Cranchiidae family whose unusual bodies help them live where the open ocean offers few hiding places.
Firefly Squid: The Tiny Ocean Hunter That Makes Its Own Blue Light
Meet the firefly squid, a small Japanese ocean hunter with light-producing organs, nightly migrations, and a remarkable spring gathering in Toyama Bay.
Bigfin Squid: The Deep-Sea Animal With Elbow-Like Arms and Trailing Filaments
Explore the deep-sea bigfin squid, whose huge fins and extraordinarily long arms and tentacles create one of the ocean's strangest silhouettes.
Flamboyant Cuttlefish: The Color-Changing Hunter That Strolls on the Seabed
Discover the flamboyant cuttlefish's seafloor walking, changing skin patterns, camouflage, and quick tentacle strike at small prey.
Wonderpus Octopus: The Brown-and-White Hunter With a Personal Pattern
Meet the wonderpus octopus, a long-armed Indo-Pacific hunter with striking brown-and-white markings that can help researchers recognize individuals.
Blue-Ringed Octopus: A Small Hunter With Brilliant Warning Colors
Explore blue-ringed octopuses, small marine hunters whose brilliant blue markings warn of powerful venom and a need for respectful distance.
Sea Butterfly: The Tiny Ocean Snail That Swims With Wing-Like Flaps
Discover sea butterflies, tiny swimming snails whose wing-like flaps and fragile shells connect them with ocean food webs and changing chemistry.
Sea Angel: The Transparent Swimming Snail With a Predator's Secret
Meet the sea angel, a shell-free swimming snail whose delicate wing-like flaps hide a surprising talent for hunting other tiny snails.