This Week's Most Frequently Viewed Images

Common Dolphin Breaching the Ocean Surface.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 34234  

Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 23454  

Ceiling art detail, Chateau de Versailles, Paris, France.
Location: Chateau de Versailles, Paris, France
Image ID: 28071  

Blue whale, open blowholes, rounding out.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02171  

Galapagos sea lion, hind flipper detail.
Species: Galapagos sea lion, Zalophus californianus wollebacki, Zalophus californianus wollebaeki
Location: Sombrero Chino, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Image ID: 02257  

Mount Rainier and alpine wildflowers.
Location: Tipsoo Lakes, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Image ID: 28739  

Silver dollar, a freshwater fish native to the Amazon and Paraguay river basins of South America.
Species: Silver dollar fish, Metynnis hypsauchen
Image ID: 09329  

Water falling from the fluke (tail) of a humpback whale as the whale dives to forage for food in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Santa Rosa Island, California
Image ID: 27029  

The Milky Way galaxy arcs above Arch Rock, panoramic photograph, cylindrical projection.
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Image ID: 26848  
Panorama dimensions: 6121 x 10275

Vibrant Dendronephthya soft corals, green fan coral and schooling Anthias fish on coral reef, Fiji.
Species: Anthias, Black sun coral, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias, Tubastrea micrantha
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji
Image ID: 31354  

Ocean sunfish reflected on a glassy surface in bluewater, open ocean, southern California.
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 02413  

Manta ray and scuba diver.
Species: Giant manta ray, Manta birostris
Location: San Benedicto Island (Islas Revillagigedos), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 02466  

Colonial planktonic pelagic tunicate, adrift in the open ocean, forms rings and chains as it drifts with ocean currents.
Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 26835  

Red saddleback anemonefish.
Species: Red saddleback anemonefish, Amphiprion ephippium
Image ID: 07833  

Blue whale, raising fluke prior to diving for food.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 16183  

Steller sea lions (Northern sea lions) gather on rocks. Steller sea lions are the largest members of the Otariid (eared seal) family. Males can weigh up to 2400 lb., females up to 770 lb.
Species: Steller sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus
Location: Chiswell Islands, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
Image ID: 16977  

Bull elephant seal, adult male, bellowing. Its huge proboscis is characteristic of male elephant seals. Scarring from combat with other males. Central California.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 15387  

Atlantic spotted dolphin.
Species: Atlantic spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalis
Location: Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Image ID: 04975  

An enormous blue whale rounds out (hunches up its back) before diving. Note the distinctive mottled skin pattern and small, falcate dorsal fin. Open ocean offshore of San Diego.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 07527  

El Capitan rises above the Merced River, Yosemite Valley.
Location: El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 16101  

Brilliant red striations around the base of this pinnacle are responsible for its name: the Lollipop.
Location: White Pocket, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona
Image ID: 26607  

Red saddleback anemonefish.
Species: Red saddleback anemonefish, Amphiprion ephippium
Image ID: 07792  

Gray whale, neonate calf with embryonic folds visible.
Species: Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus
Location: Monterey, California
Image ID: 05773  

Pelagic stingray, open ocean.
Species: Pelagic stingray, Pteroplatytrygon violacea
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 02096  

Encrusting bryozoans colonize a giant kelp pneumatocyst (bubble). Approximately 3 inches (8cm).
Species: Kelp encrusting bryozoan, Macrocystis pyrifera, Membranipora
Location: San Nicholas Island, California
Image ID: 10210  

Pacific torpedo ray, Farnsworth Banks.
Species: Pacific torpedo ray, Tetronarce californica, Torpedo californica
Location: Catalina Island, California
Image ID: 02091  

The General Sherman Sequoia tree is the largest (most massive) living thing on earth, standing over 275 feet tall with a 36 diameter and 102 circumference at its base. Its volume is over 53,000 cubic feet. It is estimated to be 2300 to 2700 years old.
Species: Giant sequoia tree, Sequoiadendron giganteum
Location: Giant Forest, Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, California
Image ID: 09872  

Stars trails above ancient bristlecone pine trees, in the White Mountains at an elevation of 10,000' above sea level. These are some of the oldest trees in the world, reaching 4000 years in age.
Species: Bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva
Location: Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California
Image ID: 27794  

Lemon shark with live sharksuckers.
Species: Lemon shark, Echeneis naucrates, Negaprion brevirostris
Location: Bahamas
Image ID: 10752  

Sailing stone on the Racetrack Playa. The sliding rocks, or sailing stones, move across the mud flats of the Racetrack Playa, leaving trails behind in the mud. The explanation for their movement is not known with certainty, but many believe wind pushes the rocks over wet and perhaps icy mud in winter.
Location: Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California
Image ID: 27689