Ari Friedlaender - Feb 7, 2013
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) are the most abundant baleen whale in the nearshore waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. They, along with millions of penguins, seals, seabirds, and...
Clyde Roper - Jan 22, 2013
I have been at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since 1966, studying and reporting on all kinds of octopuses and squids. But I’ve always had a particular fascination...
Mark J. Spalding - Jan 15, 2013
2012 marked the 70th anniversary of a series of World War II battles in the Pacific Ocean and on its islands, which are collectively known as the “Pacific theatre.” While the battles are long...
Ari Friedlaender - Jan 8, 2013
I have a vivid childhood memory of sitting under the Blue Whale model hanging in the Natural History Museum in London, eating an ice cream and wondering “How in the world did that whale get so...
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Ocean Science Basics
Courtesy of Alexander Semenov, Flickr
This pair of sea butterflies (Limacina helicina) flutter not far from the ocean's surface in the Arctic. Sea butterflies are a type of sea snail, but instead of dragging themselves around the seafloor with a muscular foot, they flap their adapted feet like butterfly wings! They are very small—rarely exceeding 1 centimeter long—but very abundant in some areas of the Arctic Ocean, where they feed on phytoplankton and some small zooplankton species. Their thin shells are made of aragonite, an unstable form of calcium carbonate, which makes them susceptible to ocean acidification.
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TAGS: Arctic, Mollusks, Polar regions
