Courting pair of southern right whales underwater, Eubalaena australis. In this image, the male is below and inverted (belly up) and the female is at the surface. While the posture in this photo isn't quite mating, it is a courting behavior that often precedes mating.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38294
Invertebrate life covers the undersea pilings of a oil platform.
Location: Long Beach, California
Image ID: 34246
Invertebrate life covers the undersea pilings of a oil platform.
Location: Long Beach, California
Image ID: 34247
A newborn harbor seal pup, only a few minutes old, peeks over its mother who is resting after having just given birth. The pup is nuzzling and smelling its mothers belly, looking for mammary glands so that it can nurse. Within an hour of being born, this pup had learned to nurse and had entered the ocean for its first swim.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39120
Pot-bellied seahorse, male, carrying eggs. The developing embryos are nourished by individual yolk sacs, and oxygen is supplied through a placenta-like attachment to the male. Two to six weeks after fertilization, the male gives birth. The babies must then fend for themselves, and few survive to adulthood.
Species: Pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis
Image ID: 14472
Pot-bellied seahorse, male, carrying eggs. The developing embryos are nourished by individual yolk sacs, and oxygen is supplied through a placenta-like attachment to the male. Two to six weeks after fertilization, the male gives birth. The babies must then fend for themselves, and few survive to adulthood.
Species: Pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis
Image ID: 14558
Colonial planktonic pelagic tunicate, adrift in the open ocean, forms rings and chains as it drifts with ocean currents.
Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 26819
Colonial planktonic pelagic tunicate, adrift in the open ocean, forms rings and chains as it drifts with ocean currents.
Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 26823