Named for the shape of its head, which when observed from above resembles a cow’s nose, the cownose ray is a moderately sized stingray native to the western Atlantic Ocean. Like all eagle rays, cownose rays are active swimmers and are rarely found lying motionless on the seafloor like the closely related whiptail stingrays (e.g., … Read more
Coastal populations of common bottlenose dolphins are more territorial and utilize a larger number of coastal habitats – from bays and estuaries to seagrass beds, beaches, and other ecosystems. Oceanic populations are more migratory in nature and apparently do not visit coastal ecosystems. Common bottlenose dolphins can be quite large, reaching weights of up to 1400 pounds … Read more
This species is known for its long bill that grows from the front of its head. Blue marlin use this bill to stun their prey by slashing their heads in a side-to-side motion, knocking potential prey unconscious, and making it easier to catch. The blue marlin’s bill differs from the swordfish’s and the sailfish‘s by being round and … Read more
Most people are very familiar with beaches. Beaches are fun places where people enjoy the intersection of very different terrestrial and marine environments, and millions of tourists visit beaches every year. Even people who have never visited a beach have likely seen a photograph or video of one, making beaches one of the most recognizable … Read more
The banded sea krait is a sea snake that lives on coral reefs in the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans. It gets its common name from the dark, vertical bars (bands) that streak an otherwise white body. Unlike some other sea snakes that complete their entire lifecycle in the ocean (e.g., olive sea snake), … Read more
The Atlantic goliath grouper, like most groupers, is an ambush predator and eats fairly large fishes and invertebrates and even small sharks. Reefs with large numbers of predators, like Atlantic goliath groupers, are known to be healthier than reefs with no predators, so this species may represent an important part of the reef food web. Atlantic goliath … Read more
The narwhal is one of just two species in the “white whales” family, the other being the beluga. As they are closely related and do not have the characteristic tusk of the males, juvenile and female narwhals can be incorrectly identified as belugas. Narwhals typically have more dark coloration, however, than their solid white cousins. Narwhals are restricted … Read more
This species is able to survive so close to the equator because of the biogeography of the western coast of South America. Cold, productive water travels from Antarctica via the Humboldt Current (named for the same explorer), which flows along this species’ entire distribution. The Humboldt penguin is closely related to the other temperate penguins and more … Read more
Hawaiian monk seals are generalist predators known to eat fishes, squids/octopuses, and crustaceans, like crabs and lobsters. They are also one of the few species known to successfully hunt and eat garden eels – elongate, shy eels that live in deep burrows in sand flats near coral reefs – and they have been documented diving to … Read more
The giant manta ray is the largest ray and one of the largest fishes in the world. Reaching widths of up to 29 feet (8.8Â m), the manta rays are much larger than any other ray species. For many decades, there was only one known species of manta, but scientists recently divided that species into two: … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.