Natural History Photography

Pelagic tunicate reproduction, large single salp produces a chain of smaller salps as it reproduces while adrift on the open ocean, Cyclosalpa affinis, San Diego, California

Pelagic tunicate reproduction, large single salp produces a chain of smaller salps as it reproduces while adrift on the open ocean.
Species: Salp, Cyclosalpa affinis
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 26820

The Chateau at Oregon Caves National Monument. Considered one of the National Park System's classic Great Lodges, and a National Historic Landmark, the Chateau was completed in 1934. The Chateau is a six-story structure with a reinforced concrete foundation and a superstructure of wood frame construction with enormous post and beam interior supports. The building spans a small gorge and a great deal of the building's mass is banked into that depression. Exterior walls are shiplap siding sheathed with cedar bark, giving the building a shaggy, rustic appearance.
Location: Oregon Caves National Monument
Image ID: 25860

This Pacific harbor seal has an ear with no external ear flaps, marking it as a true seal and not a sea lion. La Jolla, California. This group of harbor seals, which has formed a breeding colony at a small but popular beach near San Diego, is at the center of considerable controversy. While harbor seals are protected from harassment by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other legislation, local interests would like to see the seals leave so that people can resume using the beach.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 01957

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: 07573

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

California golden gorgonian and small juvenile sheephead fishes on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The golden gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Species: California sheephead wrasse, Semicossyphus pulcher
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 30903

Aerial photo of M/V Nautilus Undersea at Clipperton Island. Clipperton Island, a minor territory of France also known as Ile de la Passion, is a small (2.3 sq mi) but spectacular coral atoll in the eastern Pacific. By permit HC / 1485 / CAB (France).
Location: Clipperton Island, France
Image ID: 32886

Pygmy falcon, the smallest raptor on the African continent, preys on insects and small reptiles and mammals, Meru National Park

Pygmy falcon, the smallest raptor on the African continent, preys on insects and small reptiles and mammals.
Location: Meru National Park, Kenya
Image ID: 29706

A Sierra Nevada Peak reflected in small tarn (pond), near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California

A Sierra Nevada Peak reflected in small tarn (pond), near Tioga Pass.
Location: Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 25760

Eglise Saint-Sulpice. Saint-Sulpice is a Roman Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice, in the Luxembourg Quarter of the VIe arrondissement. At 113 metres long, 58 metres in width and 34 metres tall, it is only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in the city.
Location: Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, France
Image ID: 28125

Bignose Unicornfish, Naso vlamingii, being cleaned by a small wrasse, Fiji, Naso vlamingii, Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island

Bignose Unicornfish, Naso vlamingii, being cleaned by a small wrasse, Fiji.
Species: Bignose unicornfish, Naso vlamingii
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji
Image ID: 34998

California golden gorgonian and small juvenile sheephead fishes on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The golden gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Species: California golden gorgonian, Muricea californica
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 37095

Colorful dendronephthya soft corals and various hard corals, flourishing on a pristine healthy south pacific coral reef. The soft corals are inflated in strong ocean currents, capturing passing planktonic food with their many small polyps.
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji
Image ID: 31827

Colorful dendronephthya soft corals and various hard corals, flourishing on a pristine healthy south pacific coral reef. The soft corals are inflated in strong ocean currents, capturing passing planktonic food with their many small polyps.
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji
Image ID: 31846

The Botanical Building in Balboa Park, San Diego. The Botanical Building, at 250 feet long by 75 feet wide and 60 feet tall, was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. The Botanical Building, located on the Prado, west of the Museum of Art, contains about 2,100 permanent tropical plants along with changing seasonal flowers. The Lily Pond, just south of the Botanical Building, is an eloquent example of the use of reflecting pools to enhance architecture. The 193' by 43' foot pond and smaller companion pool were originally referred to as Las Lagunas de las Flores (The Lakes of the Flowers) and were designed as aquatic gardens. The pools contain exotic water lilies and lotus which bloom spring through fall.
Location: Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Image ID: 28822

Colorful dendronephthya soft corals and various hard corals, flourishing on a pristine healthy south pacific coral reef. The soft corals are inflated in strong ocean currents, capturing passing planktonic food with their many small polyps.
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji
Image ID: 31847

Injured tiger shark. This young and small tiger shark shows injuries about its face, likely from bites by other sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier

Injured tiger shark. This young and small tiger shark shows injuries about its face, likely from bites by other sharks.
Species: Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier
Location: Bahamas
Image ID: 31948

Snowy egret in flight gliding over the ocean in La Jolla. The snowy egret can be found in marshes, swamps, shorelines, mudflats and ponds. The snowy egret eats shrimp, minnows and other small fish, crustaceans and frogs. It is found on all coasts of North America and, in winter, into South America.
Species: Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39861

M/V Nautilus Undersea at Clipperton Island. Clipperton Island, a minor territory of France also known as Ile de la Passion, is a small (2.3 sq mi) but spectacular coral atoll in the eastern Pacific. By permit HC / 1485 / CAB (France).
Location: Clipperton Island, France
Image ID: 32847

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