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Puffer fish have one of the most dramatic defense mechanisms of any creature in the sea, thanks to bodies customized for inflating like balloons. When threatened, puffers puff themselves up […]

What is the greatest size and age a living thing can achieve? Seagrass meadows may hold the answer. Seagrasses are flowering plants that have adapted to live submerged in the […]

Watch a stingray glide over the sandy sea floor and you can tell it’s in hunting mode — but the tricks the ray is using to search for prey may […]

Life in the extreme environment of a polar ocean certainly is a survival challenge, but some Antarctic fish manage with ice water in their veins — literally. In Antarctica’s coastal […]

For years, scientists believed all sponges were filter feeders that trapped and fed on bacteria from water they pump through their bodies. But in 1995, researchers discovered that certain species […]

There’s a massive meltdown happening in the Arctic — and it’s not just polar bears who will feel the effects. Since satellite monitoring began in 1979, sea ice in the […]

Vast expanses of sea ice make the Arctic and Antarctic oceans perilous and inhospitable, but they’re also vital guardians of Earth’s climate. Sea ice forms when ocean water is cooled […]

You might imagine marine snails crawling around on the sea floor. But thanks to a unique adaptation, one family of snails lives life at the top of the ocean. Violet […]

If you think a fish out of water would be easy to catch, you haven’t encountered the Pacific leaping blenny. This acrobatic, slippery little fish can be found hopping and […]

Wind and gravity aren’t the only forces that move the ocean’s water — there’s also a conveyor belt at work. The Great Ocean Conveyor works by thermohaline circulation — water […]