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| A bull elephant seal (adult male) surveys the beach. The huge proboscis is characteristic of the species. Scarring from combat with other males. Central California. Image ID: 15460 Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA | Male elephant seal rears up on its foreflippers and bellows to intimidate other males and to survey its beach territory. Winter, Central California. Image ID: 15489 Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA | California sea lion, adult male, profile of head showing long whiskers and prominent sagittal crest (cranial crest bone), hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21566 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA |
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| Water falling from a blue whale fluke as the whale dives to forage for food in the Santa Barbara Channel. Image ID: 27023 Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus Location: Santa Rosa Island, California, USA | A sea otter eats a clam that it has taken from the shallow sandy bottom of Elkhorn Slough. Because sea otters have such a high metabolic rate, they eat up to 30% of their body weight each day in the form of clams, mussels, urchins, crabs and abalone. Sea otters are the only known tool-using marine mammal, using a stone or old shell to open the shells of their prey as they float on their backs. Image ID: 21612 Species: Sea otter, Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA | Male elephant seals (bulls) rear up on their foreflippers and fight for territory and harems of females. Bull elephant seals will haul out and fight from December through March, nearly fasting the entire time as they maintain their territory and harem. They bite and tear at each other on the neck and shoulders, drawing blood and creating scars on the tough hides. Image ID: 20377 Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA |
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| Male elephant seals (bulls) rear up on their foreflippers and fight in the surf for access for mating females that are in estrous. Such fighting among elephant seals can take place on the beach or in the water. They bite and tear at each other on the neck and shoulders, drawing blood and creating scars on the tough hides. Image ID: 20407 Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA | California sea lion, adult male, hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21557 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA | California sea lion, adult male, hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21558 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA |
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| California sea lion, adult male, hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21559 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA | California sea lion, adult male, hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21565 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA | California sea lion, adult male, profile of head showing long whiskers and prominent sagittal crest (cranial crest bone), hauled out on rocks to rest, early morning sunrise light, Monterey breakwater rocks. Image ID: 21582 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Monterey, California, USA |
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| California sea lion, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23433 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA | A submarine cavern at Santa Barbara Island, underwater. Image ID: 23434 Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA | California sea lions, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23437 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA |
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| California sea lion, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23440 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA | California sea lions, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23442 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA | California sea lions, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23447 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA |
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| California sea lions, underwater at Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island, 38 miles off the coast of southern California, is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. It is home to a large population of sea lions. Image ID: 23450 Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus Location: Santa Barbara Island, California, USA | Elephant seals crowd a sand beach at the Piedras Blancas rookery near San Simeon. The Piedras Blancas lighthouse is visible in upper left. Image ID: 20355 Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA | Elephant seals crowd a sand beach at the Piedras Blancas rookery near San Simeon. Image ID: 20358 Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA |
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| Humpback whale holding fluke (tail) aloft out of the water. Image ID: 00171 Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA | Humpback whale with one of its long pectoral fins raised aloft out of the water, swimming on its side (laterally) as it does so. Image ID: 01470 Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA | North Pacific humpback whale, adult male with bloody head nodules wounded from colliding with other escorts during competitive interactions. Image ID: 02152 Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA |
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| Male humpback whale with head raised out of the water, braking and pushing back at another whale by using pectoral fins spread in a "crucifix block", during surface active social behaviours. Image ID: 04106 Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA | Green sea turtle, Maui Hawaii. Image ID: 04556 Species: Green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA | Sea otters mating. The male holds the female's head or nose with his jaws during copulation. Visible scars are often present on females from this behavior. Sea otters have a polygynous mating system. Many males actively defend territories and will mate with females that inhabit their territory or seek out females in estrus if no territory is established. Males and females typically bond for the duration of estrus, or about 3 days. Image ID: 21606 Species: Sea otter, Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA |
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| Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Completed in 1875, the 115-foot-tall Piedras Blancas lighthouse is one of the few tall-style lighthouses on the West Coast of the United States. Piedras Blancas, named for a group of three white rocks just offshore, is north of San Simeon, California very close to Hearst Castle. Image ID: 20348 Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California, USA | A sea otter resting, holding its paws out of the water to keep them warm and conserve body heat as it floats in cold ocean water. Image ID: 21607 Species: Sea otter, Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA | A sea otter resting, holding its paws out of the water to keep them warm and conserve body heat as it floats in cold ocean water. Image ID: 21614 Species: Sea otter, Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA |
Natural History Photography Blog posts (4) related to National Marine Sanctuaries
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