The Sea Slug That Steals Chloroplasts From Its Food
A tiny sea slug bites into an alga, sucks out its cellular contents and digests much of what it consumes. But some of the algal chloroplasts escape immediate destruction. Instead, …
Marine Biology
The Barreleye Fish Sees Through Its Transparent Head
At first glance, the barreleye fish seems to have a fairly ordinary deep-sea face. Two small dark spots sit above its mouth, looking exactly where eyes ought to be. But …
How the Nautilus Shell Helps Control Buoyancy and Depth
A chambered nautilus drifting along a deep reef slope carries one of the most distinctive buoyancy systems in the ocean. Nautilus buoyancy control depends partly on the animal’s coiled external …
This Icefish Lives Without Functional Hemoglobin in Its Blood
Beneath Antarctic sea ice, seawater hovers close to its freezing point. Light filters through cracks in the ice, illuminating a world of sponges, crustaceans, and fishes whose bodies have been …
How Young Sea Turtles Navigate Using Earth’s Magnetic Field
A newly hatched loggerhead sea turtle reaches the edge of the beach and enters an ocean that, from its perspective, contains no road signs, trail markers, or familiar landmarks. Soon, …
At Night, Coral Reefs Come Alive: The Hidden World of Coral Polyps
Introduction To most people, a coral reef looks like an underwater rock garden filled with colorful formations, fish, and sea turtles. During the day, the hard coral structures appear still …