A bull elephant seal forceably mates (copulates) with a much smaller female, often biting her into submission and using his weight to keep her from fleeing. Males may up to 5000 lbs, triple the size of females. Sandy beach rookery, winter, Central California.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 15408
A SCUBA diver enters a submarine cavern at Santa Barbara Island, underwater cave.
Location: Santa Barbara Island, California
Image ID: 23423
Kelp fronds showing pneumatocysts, bouyant gas-filled bubble-like structures which float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface, where it will spread to form a roof-like canopy. Santa Barbara Island.
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: Santa Barbara Island, California
Image ID: 10228
Crystal Pier and Pacific Beach coastline, Mission Bay, Point Loma and San Diego visible in the distance, aerial photo.
Location: Pacific Beach, California
Image ID: 37975
Torrey Pines balloon aerial survey photo. Torrey Pines seacliffs, rising up to 300 feet above the ocean, stretch from Del Mar to La Jolla. On the mesa atop the bluffs are found Torrey pine trees, one of the rare species of pines in the world. Peregrine falcons nest at the edge of the cliffs. This photo was made as part of an experimental balloon aerial photographic survey flight over Torrey Pines State Reserve, by permission of Torrey Pines State Reserve.
Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California
Image ID: 27287
La Sainte-Chapelle, The Holy Chapel, is one of the only surviving buildings of the Capetian royal palace on the Ile de la Cite in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom.
Location: La Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, France
Image ID: 28032
Full moon, Torrey Pine and eroded sandstone. The Torrey Pine is the rarest native pine tree in the United States, is native to the coastal chaparral of San Diego County. A subspecies of the Torrey Pine is found in a small grove on Santa Rosa island, one of Californias Channel Islands.
Species: Torrey pine, Pinus torreyana
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 28987
Aerial Photo of San Elijo Lagoon. San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve is one of the largest remaining coastal wetlands in San Diego County, California, on the border of Encinitas, Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe.
Location: Encinitas, California
Image ID: 30584
Aerial Photo of Crystal Pier, 872 feet long and built in 1925, extends out into the Pacific Ocean from the town of Pacific Beach. Mission Bay and downtown San Diego are seen in the distance.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 30683
Crystal Pier, 872 feet long and built in 1925, extends out into the Pacific Ocean from the town of Pacific Beach. Mission Bay and downtown San Diego are seen in the distance.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 22465