This Week's Most Frequently Viewed Images

Pacific harbor seal swims in the protected waters of Childrens Pool in La Jolla, California. This group of harbor seals, which has formed a breeding colony at a small but popular beach near San Diego, is at the center of considerable controversy. While harbor seals are protected from harassment by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other legislation, local interests would like to see the seals leave so that people can resume using the beach.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 03018  

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

The Mandelbrot Fractal. Fractals are complex geometric shapes that exhibit repeating patterns typified by self-similarity, or the tendency for the details of a shape to appear similar to the shape itself. Often these shapes resemble patterns occurring naturally in the physical world, such as spiraling leaves, seemingly random coastlines, erosion and liquid waves. Fractals are generated through surprisingly simple underlying mathematical expressions, producing subtle and surprising patterns. The basic iterative expression for the Mandelbrot set is z = z-squared + c, operating in the complex (real, imaginary) number set.
Species: Mandelbrot fractal, Mandelbrot set
Image ID: 10370  

Blue whale underwater closeup photo. This picture of a blue whale, the largest animal ever to inhabit earth, shows it swimming through the open ocean, a rare underwater view. Since this blue whale was approximately 80-90' long and just a few feet from the camera, an extremely wide lens was used to photograph the entire enormous whale.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: California
Image ID: 27299  

The Raft of the Medusa, Le Radeau de la Meduse, oil painting by French Romantic painter Theodore Gericault, 1819. Musee du Louvre.
Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
Image ID: 28107  

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  

Inside the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
Image ID: 28042  

Eglise de la Madeleine, a Roman Catholic church in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, designed in its present form as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army.
Location: Eglise de la Madeleine, Paris, France
Image ID: 28088  

San Diego Coronado Bridge, known locally as the Coronado Bridge, links San Diego with Coronado, California. The bridge was completed in 1969 and was a toll bridge until 2002. It is 2.1 miles long and reaches a height of 200 feet above San Diego Bay. Coronado Island is to the left, and downtown San Diego is to the right in this view looking north.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 22288  

Oakum boys, juvenile king penguins at Salisbury Plain, South Georgia Island. Named 'oakum boys' by sailors for the resemblance of their brown fluffy plumage to the color of oakum used to caulk timbers on sailing ships, these year-old penguins will soon shed their fluffy brown plumage and adopt the colors of an adult.
Species: King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus
Location: Salisbury Plain, South Georgia Island
Image ID: 24406  

Ocean sunfish, open ocean, Baja California.
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Image ID: 06413  

Florida Manatee at Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida.
Species: West indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Image ID: 36329  

Four-eyed fish, found in the Amazon River delta of South America. The name four-eyed fish is actually a misnomer. It has only two eyes, but both are divided into aerial and aquatic parts. The two retinal regions of each eye, working in concert with two different curvatures of the eyeball above and below water to account for the difference in light refractivity for air and water, allow this amazing fish to see clearly above and below the water surface simultaneously.
Species: Four-eyed fish, Anableps anableps
Image ID: 09380  

Humpback whale blowhole.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 04284  

Weathered wood and nails, Kelley Building on Green Street.
Location: Bodie State Historical Park, California
Image ID: 23126  

Moss Landing Power Plant rise above Moss Landing harbor and Elkhorn Slough. The Moss Landing Power Plant is an electricity generation plant at Moss Landing, California. The twin stacks, each 500 feet high, mark two generation units product 750 megawatts each.
Location: Moss Landing, California
Image ID: 21496  

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  

Brown bear tail and hind legs.
Species: Brown bear, Ursus arctos
Location: Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska
Image ID: 17106  

A curious Adelie penguin, standing at the edge of an iceberg, looks over the photographer.
Species: Adelie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae
Location: Paulet Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Image ID: 25015  

Striations in sandstone tell of eons of sedimentary deposits, a visible geologic record of the time when this region was under the sea.
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona
Image ID: 20612  

Camp Pendleton boat basin and coastline, viewed looking north. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
Location: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California
Image ID: 25997  

American badger. Badgers are found primarily in the great plains region of North America. Badgers prefer to live in dry, open grasslands, fields, and pastures.
Species: American badger, Taxidea taxus
Image ID: 12044  

Trocadero. The Trocadero, site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
Location: Trocadero, Paris, France
Image ID: 28259  

Cardon cactus, near La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. Known as the elephant cactus or Mexican giant cactus, cardon is largest cactus in the world and is endemic to the deserts of the Baja California peninsula. Some specimens of cardon have been measured over 21m (70) high. These slow-growing plants live up to 300 years and can weigh 25 tons. Cardon is often mistaken for the superficially similar saguaro of Arizona and Sonora, but the saguaro does not occupy Baja California.
Species: Cardon cactus, Elephant cactus, Pachycereus pringlei
Location: La Paz, Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 05498  

The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) is found on the southern and western coasts of Australia. Its extravagent appendages serve only for camoflage, since it has a nearly-invisible dorsal fin that propels it slowly through the water. The leafy sea dragon is the marine emblem of South Australia.
Species: Leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia
Image ID: 39137  

California sea lion underwater at Los Islotes, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Sea of Cortez, Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 31206  

Oceanside Pier at dusk, sunset, night. Oceanside.
Location: Oceanside Pier, California
Image ID: 14628  

Purple-striped jelly.
Species: Purple-striped jellyfish, Chrysaora colorata
Image ID: 08971  

Having just mated with a female (obscured) next to him, this bull male elephant seal's penis is still extended and visible.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 20423