Natural History Photo of the Day

February 18, 2026
Plexauridae sea fan or gorgonian on coral reef. This gorgonian is a type of colonial alcyonacea soft coral that filters plankton from passing ocean currents

Plexauridae sea fan or gorgonian on coral reef. This gorgonian is a type of colonial alcyonacea soft coral that filters plankton from passing ocean currents

Species: Gorgonian, Gorgonacea
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji
Created: 2018-10-07
Image ID: 34712

Previous 48 Natural History Photo of the Day entries

February 17, 2026: Ponto, South Carlsbad, morning surf.
February 16, 2026: Wildflowers bloom across Carrizo Plains National Monument, during the 2017 Superbloom
February 15, 2026: Portrait of an adult Southern Right Whale Underwater, Eubalaena australis, hovering over sand bottom on Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
February 14, 2026: A humpback whale raises it fluke out of the water, the coast of Del Mar and La Jolla is visible in the distance.
February 13, 2026: Calico Bass. Kelp Bass, Paralabrax clathratus, Catalina Island
February 12, 2026: A young California sea lion pup hovers upside down, looking down curiously at the photographer below it, in the shallows of the sea lion colony at the Coronado Islands, Mexico
February 11, 2026: Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
February 10, 2026: Broken Hill in soft pre-dawn light, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Torrey Pines State Reserve. La Jolla and Mount Soledad in the distance.
February 9, 2026: Steller sea lion underwater, Norris Rocks, Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada
February 8, 2026: Sheephead wrasse, Garibaldi and golden gorgonian, with a underwater forest of giant kelp rising in the background, underwater.
February 7, 2026: Adams River sockeye salmon. A female sockeye salmon swims upstream in the Adams River to spawn, having traveled hundreds of miles upstream from the ocean.
February 6, 2026: Winter Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road. Sunrise light barely illuminating the flowers.
February 5, 2026: Spectacularly colorful dendronephthya soft corals on South Pacific reef, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
February 4, 2026: Gray Whale Courtship Group, Aerial Photo, San Diego. Courtship during the southern migration, far to the north of the Mexican lagoons of Baja California where most gray whale births take place.
February 3, 2026: Pristine tropical reef with black coral, schooling anthias fishes and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, pulsing with life in a strong current over a pristine coral reef. Fiji is known as the soft coral capitlal of the world.
February 2, 2026: Great egret, White Egret, Ardea alba, Florida
February 1, 2026: Green sea turtle, West Maui.
January 31, 2026: Jardin du Luxembourg. The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The park is the garden of the French Senate, which is itself housed in the Luxembourg Palace.
January 30, 2026: Enormous Porites lobata coral head, overturned by storm surge, Clipperton Island
January 29, 2026: California sea lion, thermoregulating.
January 28, 2026: California Brown Pelican flying over a breaking wave
January 27, 2026: Anthias fish school around green fan coral, Fiji
January 26, 2026: Lunar eclipse sequence. While the moon lies in the full shadow of the earth (umbra) it receives only faint, red-tinged light refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. As the moon passes into the penumbra it receives increasing amounts of direct sunlight, eventually leaving the shadow of the Earth altogether. October 8, 2014.
January 25, 2026: Steller sea lion underwater bubble display, Norris Rocks, Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada
January 24, 2026: Brown pelican flying over waves and the surf.
January 23, 2026: Sea otters mating. The male holds the female's head or nose with his jaws during copulation. Visible scars are often present on females from this behavior. Sea otters have a polygynous mating system. Many males actively defend territories and will mate with females that inhabit their territory or seek out females in estrus if no territory is established. Males and females typically bond for the duration of estrus, or about 3 days.
January 22, 2026: Fiji is the soft coral capital of the world, Seen here are beautifully colorful dendronephthya soft corals reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
January 21, 2026: Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
January 20, 2026: Fledgeling Peregrine Falcon in flight, juvenile, over the Pacific Ocean, Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
January 19, 2026: Bottlenose dolphins swim through red tide, hunt a school of fish, lit by glowing bioluminescence caused by microscopic Lingulodinium polyedrum dinoflagellate organisms which glow blue when agitated at night.
January 18, 2026: Sperm whale underwater, Physeter macrocephalus. Sperm whales are found year-round in the abyssal trench alongside the island of Dominica since this is where they forage for deep-sea squid.
January 17, 2026: Bluestripe clownfish, Amphiprion chrysopterus, Fiji
January 16, 2026: 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.
January 15, 2026: California sea lion, Coronados Islands, Baja California, Mexico
January 14, 2026: Stars at night over Hurst Island, Gods Pocket Resort
January 13, 2026: Sunrise light touches the Fins. Sandstone fins stand on edge. Vertical fractures separate standing plates of sandstone that are eroded into freestanding fins, that may one day further erode into arches.
January 12, 2026: Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with gorgonian sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji
January 11, 2026: A huge blue whale swims through the open ocean in this underwater photograph. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on Earth.
January 10, 2026: California sea lion bodysurfing in La Jolla
January 9, 2026: Black oaks in autumn in Yosemite National Park, fall colors, Quercus kelloggii
January 8, 2026: Horseshoe Bend Sunrise, Colorado River, Page, Arizona
January 7, 2026: Male lion, not yet full grown, Masai Mara, Kenya
January 6, 2026: Southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, Argentina
January 5, 2026: Sunlight streams through giant kelp forest. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky reef to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
January 4, 2026: California poppies cover the hillsides in bright orange
January 3, 2026: Cardinalfish, Fiji
January 2, 2026: Two Rushing Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
January 1, 2026: Red Irish Lord sculpinfish, Browning Pass, British Columbia