This Week's Most Frequently Viewed Images

A fisheries biologist counts salmon migrating upstream to spawn as the fish move through the Bonneville Dam fish ladders.
Location: Columbia River, Bonneville Dam and Locks, Oregon
Image ID: 19368  

Ocean sunfish and photographer, open ocean.
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 03324  

A northern elephant seal hovers underwater over a rocky bottom along the coastline of Guadalupe Island.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 03505  

Blade Runner, the injured North Pacific humpback whale, is seen with her calf swimming alongside. This humpback whale showing extensive scarring, almost certainly from a boat propeller, on dorsal ridge. This female North Pacific humpback whale was first seen with the depicted lacerations near the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-90s, and is the original humpback to bear the name 'Blade Runner'. This female has apparently recovered, as evidenced by her calf in the background. A South Pacific humpback whale endured a similar injury in Sydney Australia in 2001, and bears a remarkably similar scar pattern to the above-pictured whale.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05907  

Brock Little, final round, Mavericks surf contest (third place), February 7, 2006.
Location: Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, California
Image ID: 15300  

Salt Creek surf, pretty big day, winter, morning.
Location: Salt Creek, Laguna Niguel, California
Image ID: 14851  

Breaking wave at the Wedge.
Location: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California
Image ID: 14370  

Raccoon butterflyfish.
Species: Racoon butterflyfish, Chaetodon lunula
Image ID: 13993  

Swordtail newt.
Species: Swordtail newt, Cynops ensicauda
Image ID: 13979  

Mountain lion.
Species: Mountain lion, Puma concolor
Image ID: 12279  

An enormous blue whale raises its fluke (tail) high out of the water before diving. Open ocean offshore of San Diego.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 07558  

Young hikers are dwarfed by the trunk of an enormous Sequoia tree.
Species: Giant sequoia tree, Sequoiadendron giganteum
Location: Giant Forest, Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, California
Image ID: 09879  

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

Breaking wave, tube, hollow barrel, morning surf.
Image ID: 19534  

Enormous blue whale, exhaling as it surfaces from a dive, aerial photo. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth, exceeding 100' in length and 200 tons in weight.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: Redondo Beach, California
Image ID: 25950  

Steam rises from the travertine terraces of New Blue Spring, part of the Mammoth Hot Springs complex.
Location: Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Image ID: 07281  

Leucistic juvenile antarctic fur seal, young pup, juvenile, blond. A leucistic animal is one that has pigmentation levels far below normal and is thus much more lightly colored.
Species: Antarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus gazella
Location: Fortuna Bay, South Georgia Island
Image ID: 24617  

West Indian manatee at Three Sisters Springs, Florida.
Species: West indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Image ID: 02718  

West Indian manatee at Three Sisters Springs, Florida.
Species: West indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Image ID: 02724  

Great barracuda.
Species: Great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda
Location: Bahamas
Image ID: 05214  

Eucalyptus tree, gum tree.
Species: Gum tree, Eucalyptus
Location: Del Mar, California
Image ID: 21491  

Squaretail coralgrouper (upper) and spotted coralgrouper (lower).
Species: Squaretail coralgrouper, Plectropomus areolatus, Plectropomus maculatus
Image ID: 08836  

Scalloped hammerhead shark swims over a reef in the Galapagos Islands. The hammerheads eyes and other sensor organs are placed far apart on its wide head to give the shark greater ability to sense the location of prey.
Species: Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini
Location: Wolf Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Image ID: 16246  

Squaretail coralgrouper.
Species: Squaretail coralgrouper, Plectropomus areolatus
Image ID: 08839  

Purple-striped jelly.
Species: Purple-striped jellyfish, Chrysaora colorata
Image ID: 08976  

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  

Sapphire devil (blue damselfish), female/juvenile coloration.
Species: Sapphire devil, Chrysiptera cyanea
Image ID: 07919  

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: 07577  

Scribbled angelfish.
Species: Scribbled angelfish, Chaetodontoplus duboulayi
Image ID: 07921  

Grand Prismatic Spring displays brilliant colors along its edges, created by species of thermophilac (heat-loving) bacteria that thrive in narrow temperature ranges. The outer orange and red regions are the coolest water in the spring, where the overflow runs off.
Location: Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Image ID: 07265