Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Species: Red gorgonian, Leptogorgia chilensis, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: Santa Barbara Island, California
Image ID: 35828
Belt of Venus and Earth Shadow at Dawn. The Belt of Venus is actually alpenglow visible near the horizon during twilight, above the antisolar point. Like alpenglow, the backscatter of reddened sunlight also creates the Belt of Venus. Unlike alpenglow, the sunlight scattered by fine particulates that cause the rosy arch of the Belt shines high in the atmosphere and lasts for a while after sunset or before sunrise.
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 37476
Courting pair of southern right whales underwater, Eubalaena australis. While the posture in this photo isn't quite mating, it is a courting behavior that often precedes mating. The male is below, upside down and trying to access the female belly-to-belly. However, the female does not want to mate, so she has positioned herself upside down at the surface so that the males in the courting group cannot reach her genital slit.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38345
USS Kittiwake wreck, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to form an underwater marine park and dive attraction.
Location: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Image ID: 32141
USS Kittiwake wreck, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to form an underwater marine park and dive attraction.
Image ID: 32143
Panorama dimensions: 4890 x 12865
USS Kittiwake wreck, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to form an underwater marine park and dive attraction.
Location: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Image ID: 32145
SCUBA divers on the wreck of the USS Kittiwake, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to form an underwater marine park and dive attraction.
Location: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Image ID: 32146
SCUBA divers on the wreck of the USS Kittiwake, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to form an underwater marine park and dive attraction.
Location: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Image ID: 32148
Adult male humpback whale bubble streaming underwater. The male escort humpback whale seen here is emitting a curtain of bubbles as it swims behind a mother and calf. The bubble curtain may be meant as warning or visual obstruction to other nearby male whales interested in the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05928
Aerial view of the lagoon inside Clipperton Island. The lagoon within the atoll was formerly open to the ocean but has been closed and stagnant for many decades. Some experts believe erosion will open the lagoon up to the ocean again soon. Clipperton Island, a minor territory of France also known as Ile de la Passion, is a spectacular coral atoll in the eastern Pacific. By permit HC / 1485 / CAB (France).
Location: Clipperton Island, France
Image ID: 32864
Panorama dimensions: 4298 x 9430
A juvenile brown pelican preening, reaching with its beak to the uropygial gland (preen gland) near the base of its tail. Preen oil from the uropygial gland is spread by the pelican's beak and back of its head to all other feathers on the pelican, helping to keep them water resistant and dry. Adult winter non-breeding plumage.
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 38693
California Sea Lions jumping into the ocean, from seaside cliff on Point La Jolla, while waves crash below.
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39123
Aerial photo of gray whale calf and mother. This baby gray whale was born during the southern migration, far to the north of the Mexican lagoons of Baja California where most gray whale births take place.
Species: Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus
Location: San Clemente, California
Image ID: 29001