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The Wave, an area of fantastic eroded sandstone featuring beautiful swirls, wild colors, countless striations, and bizarre shapes set amidst the dramatic surrounding North Coyote Buttes of Arizona and Utah. The sandstone formations of the North Coyote Buttes, including the Wave, date from the Jurassic period. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Wave is located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and is accessible on foot by permit only.
Image ID: 20605
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona, USA | 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.
Image ID: 27299
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: California, USA | North Pacific humpback whales, a mother and calf pair swim closely together just under the surface of the ocean. The calf will remain with its mother for about a year, migrating from Hawaii to Alaska to feed on herring.
Image ID: 00140
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA |
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Humpback whale breaching, near Molokai, Hawaii. Megaptera novaeangliae. It is suspected the breaching often has a communicative purpose which depends on the behavioral context of the moment.
Image ID: 00205
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA | Guadalupe fur seals, floating upside down underwater over a rocky reef covered with golden kelp at Guadalupe Island.
Image ID: 02113
Species: Guadalupe fur seal, Arctocephalus townsendi
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico | Two blue whales, a mother and her calf, swim through the open ocean in this aerial photograph. The calf is blowing (spouting, exhaling) with a powerful column of spray. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on Earth.
Image ID: 02304
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California, USA |
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Guadalupe fur seal, floating upside down under the ocean's surface at Guadalupe Island, watching the photographer and looking for passing predators.
Image ID: 02114
Species: Guadalupe fur seal, Arctocephalus townsendi
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico | The Second Wave at sunset. The Second Wave, a curiously-shaped sandstone swirl, takes on rich warm tones and dramatic shadowed textures at sunset. Set in the North Coyote Buttes of Arizona and Utah, the Second Wave is characterized by striations revealing layers of sedimentary deposits, a visible historical record depicting eons of submarine geology.
Image ID: 20606
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona, USA | Great hammerhead shark.
Image ID: 31966
Species: Great hammerhead shark, Sphyrna mokarran
Location: Bimini, Bahamas |
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Two tiger sharks.
Image ID: 31875
Species: Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier
Location: Bahamas | Cholla cactus, brittlebush, ocotillo and various cacti and wildflowers color the sides of Glorietta Canyon. Heavy winter rains led to a historic springtime bloom in 2005, carpeting the entire desert in vegetation and color for months.
Image ID: 10975
Species: Opuntia, Encelia farinosa, Fouquieria splendens
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California, USA | Grand Prismatic Spring (left) and Excelsior Geyser (right). Grand Prismatic Spring displays a stunning rainbow of colors created by species of thermophilac (heat-loving) bacteria that thrive in narrow temperature ranges. The blue water in the center is too hot to support any bacterial life, while the outer orange rings are the coolest water. Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest spring in the United States and the third-largest in the world. Midway Geyser Basin.
Image ID: 13571
Location: Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA |
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A great white shark opens it mouth just before it attacks its prey with a crippling, powerful bite. After the prey has been disabled, the shark will often wait for it to weaken from blood loss before resuming the attack. If the shark looses a tooth in the course of the bite, a replacement just behind it will move forward to take its place.
Image ID: 19452
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico | Kelp frond showing pneumatocysts.
Image ID: 00627
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A whale shark swims through the open ocean in the Galapagos Islands. The whale shark is the largest shark on Earth, but is harmless eating plankton and small fish.
Image ID: 01520
Species: Whale shark, Rhincodon typus
Location: Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador |
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A kelp forest, with sunbeams passing through kelp fronds. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky bottom to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Image ID: 02411
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A Florida manatee, or West Indian Manatee, swims slowly through the clear waters of Crystal River.
Image ID: 02696
Species: West Indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida, USA | Atlantic spotted dolphin, Olympic swimmer Mikako Kotani.
Image ID: 00647
Species: Atlantic spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalis
Location: Bahamas |
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A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and tuna.
Image ID: 07666
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico | Humpback whale in Antarctica. A humpback whale swims through the beautiful ice-filled waters of Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica.
Image ID: 25646
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica | Galapagos shark swims over a reef in the Galapagos Islands, with schooling fish in the distance.
Image ID: 16240
Species: Galapagos shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis
Location: Wolf Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador |
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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.
Image ID: 16246
Species: Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini
Location: Wolf Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador | A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico's Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean.
Image ID: 19465
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico | A SCUBA diver swims through a giant kelp forest which is tilted back by strong ocean currents. Giant kelp, the fastest plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky bottom to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Image ID: 01107
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Galapagos sea lion pup, Punta Espinosa.
Image ID: 01611
Species: Galapagos sea lion, Zalophus californianus wollebacki, Zalophus californianus wollebaeki
Location: Fernandina Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador | Ocean sunfish recruiting fish near drift kelp to clean parasites, open ocean, Baja California.
Image ID: 03267
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola | Humpback whale breaching with pectoral fins lifting spray from the ocean surface.
Image ID: 03854
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii, USA |
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Atlantic spotted dolphin and Olympic champion swimmer Matt Biondi.
Image ID: 00018
Species: Atlantic spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalis
Location: Bahamas | Brown booby flying over Rose Atoll at sunset, with dark colorful storm clouds and other birds in the background.
Image ID: 00914
Species: Brown booby, Sula leucogaster
Location: Rose Atoll National Wildlife Sanctuary, American Samoa, USA | A white tern, or fairy tern, alights on a branch at Rose Atoll in American Samoa.
Image ID: 00871
Species: Fairy tern, Gygis alba
Location: Rose Atoll National Wildlife Sanctuary, American Samoa, USA |
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