Oceans

The effort to pull some 900 ocean-monitoring buoys and sensors from the water drew backlash from scientists and lawmakers

Galapagos sharks have been spotted scrubbing off parasites with help from manta rays

The fossilized remains of more than 450 whales have amassed along a 750-mile-long stretch of the Indian Ocean floor

Like astronauts’ “overview effect,” a dramatic feeling of awe takes hold on extended seafloor stays

The Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade

This teensy creature was discovered along a deep-sea mountain

Over the course of 13 expeditions and other efforts between mid-2025 and mid-2026, scientists found hundreds of previously undiscovered creatures living under the waves

New trove of fossils reveals that ancestral animals likely emerged in the deep sea

A strange, tiny fish that resembles the famous Sesame Street character camouflages amid red algae thanks to its flamboyant reddish “hairs”

This snail became the first animal living on deep-sea hydrothermal vents to be added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species—it also turns poisonous sulfur into armor

Despite decades of damage, the Persian Gulf’s ecological marvels remain—for now

This enigmatic orb has undergone extensive examination and DNA testing, enabling scientists to reveal its true origins