Ocean Life
Geodynamics Seminar
Changing Climate and Marine Fisheries – Challenges and Opportunities Jon Hare, NEFSC Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office – Carriage House
Read MoreNew Techniques Open Window into Anatomy of Mollusks
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists are using advanced medical imaging techniques and diagnostic tools to reveal the internal structures…
Read MoreDating Corals, Knowing the Ocean
Coral is a useful tool for scientists who want to understand changes in past climate, but recalling that history presents…
Read MoreRound Up the Unusual Suspects
A variety of genetic techniques are advancing ocean scientists’ ability to identify which organisms live where in the vast ocean twilight zone and to find previously unknown species.
Read MoreThe Deep-See Peers into the Depths
Decades of research from many WHOI scientists and engineers have culminated in a multifaceted vehicle to explore deep-sea marine life.
Read MoreSharks & Other Fish
Fish serve important ecological and economic functions. Ecologically, they are both predator and prey, providing food for other animals, and serve to keep the numbers of prey species in check, many of which could destroy important ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves if their numbers are allowed to grow.
Read MoreShellfish
An aquatic animal, such as a mollusk or crustacean, that has a shell or shell-like exoskeleton.
Read MorePhytoplankton
What are Phytoplankton? Phytoplankton are mostly microscopic, single-celled photosynthetic organisms that live suspended in water. Like land plants, they take…
Read MoreOcean Twilight Zone
What is the ocean twilight zone? The ocean twilight zone is a layer of water that stretches around the globe.…
Read MoreMarine Mammals
Marine mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates (animals with a backbone) that bear live young and nourish them with milk as land…
Read MoreLife at Vents & Seeps
What is Life at Vents and Seeps? Hydrothermal vents and cold seeps are places where chemical-rich fluids emanate from the…
Read MoreMicrobial Life
Microbial life can be found throughout the ocean, from rocks and sediments beneath the seafloor, across the vast stretches of open water, to intertidal and surf zones.
Read MoreOcean Life
Incredible diversity exists in the ocean, from microscopic organisms to the largest animals on Earth.
Read MoreJellyfish & Other Zooplankton
What are Zooplankton? Zooplankton are animals that live all or part of their life as plankton (from the Greek word…
Read MoreCoral
Many people think of coral as hard, rock-like formations that attract abundant, diverse marine life. In fact, corals are themselves…
Read MoreShark Facts
What are they? Sharks are elasmobranchs, a group of animals that includes rays and skates, whose members have a skeleton…
Read MoreVibrio parahaemolyticus
(Adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus or Vibrio p.) is a bacterium in…
Read MoreSeal Facts
What are they? Seals are pinnipeds, a group of animals with three separate families—phocidae (eared seals), otaridae (non-eared seals), and…
Read MorePlankton, By Any Other Name
Scientists usually divide plankton into three groups that align with major divisions of life. The plant-like organisms are phytoplankton (from…
Read MoreThe Watery World of Salps
Somewhere in our galaxy is a planet mainly covered by ocean. Most of the animals that live on the planet…
Read MoreDeep-sea Corals
When most people think of corals, they think od the big interconnected structures such as the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. But deep in the ocean much smaller coral formations lie past the point where light penetrates.
Read MoreA DISCO in the Ocean
To investigate coral bleaching, WHOI scientists figure out a novel way to take direct measurements in the ocean of superoxide, a key molecule that vanishes almost as soon as it is made.
Read MoreDo Microplastics in the Ocean Affect Scallops?
WHOI scientist Scott Gallager is making field observations and conducting lab experiments to explore the possible effects of microplastics in the ocean on marine organisms.
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