Census of Marine Life

The Census of Marine Life has issued its final report on the 10-year effort to document the diversity of the world's oceans. More than 2,700 scientists cataloged 28 million observations of new species as well as old favorites such as the octopus. This octopus specimen was collected at Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in an Autonomous Reef Monitoring System, or ARMS, at a depth of 30 to 36 feet (10 to 12 meters). The ARMS system is one of the legacies of the census.

The ultimate role of a jellyfish is to reproduce. The brown granular core in this jelly, Bouganvillia supercilliaris, is stuffed to the breaking point with hundreds of eggs.

This Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus) was found at Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

A young Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) gets his final diving lessons. He is already the size of his mother, who is waiting under the water. Soon, he'll be on his own. The Census of Marine Life cataloged marine mammals as well as other types of creatures ranging from fish to microbes.

Sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) float in the water of California's Monterey Bay. The nettle's sting is deadly to small prey but not potent enough to kill humans - except in the case of an allergic reaction.

The vampire squid, also known by the scientific name Vampyroteuthis, is a cephalopod that lives in the oxygen minimum zone of California's Monterey Bay at depths of 2,000 to 3,000 feet (600-900 meters).

Researchers with the Census of Marine Life conducted an inventory of octocorals, named for the eight tentacles that fringe each polyp. This is a soft coral, Dendronephthya, from the coral gardens off Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

This physonect siphonophore (Marrus orthocanna) was photographed during NOAA’s "Hidden Ocean Expedition." The colonial animal is made up of many repeated units, which include tentacles, and multiple stomachs. Many specimens were observed at depths between 1,000 and 5,000 feet (300 to 1,500 meters).

South of Easter Island, the Census of Marine Life's vent explorers discovered a crab so unusual it warranted a whole new family designation, Kiwidae. Beyond adding a new family to the wealth of known biodiversity, its discovery added a new genus, Kiwa, named for the mythological Polynesian goddess of shellfish. Its furry or hairy appearance justified its species name, hirsuta.

This type of anemone lives in a mucous tube on the muddy bottoms of coastal waters, estuaries and soft seabeds. They're found in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world, where they can grow up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) across and a foot (30 centimeters) tall. When the anemone is threatened, the animal retracts into its tube for protection. The beautiful stinging tentacles of the tube anemone vary from a vibrant purple to a creamy brown.

Bottom-dwelling animals often release their larvae into the water for feeding and dispersal as "meroplankton." These two larvae from Russia's Chukchi Sea measure less than a tenth of an inch (1 millimeter) but will eventually grow into sea urchins or sand dollars.

This snail (Alviniconcha sp.) inhabits deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the Suiyo Seamount, off the coast of Japan. It's probably a new species, and only a single specimen has been discovered to date. Where are its peers?

The flamingo tongue snail, Cyphoma gibbosum, was photographed near Grand Cayman in the British West Indies, and is listed in the Gulf of Mexico biodiversity inventory.

In October 2007, U.S. and Filipino scientists traveled to the Celebes Sea in Southeast Asia, searching for new species living in its deep water. When they discovered this extraordinary worm — which they named "Squidworm" — they knew they had something special.

The acantharians are one of the four types of large amoebae that occur in marine open waters. Their fragile skeletons are made of a single crystal of strontium sulfate that quickly dissolves in the ocean water after the cell dies.

Nereocystis, a marine alga commonly referred to as bull kelp, is often found in the nearshore and shallow gulf areas of North America's Pacific Coast.

Hyperoche capucinus is a common sand flea that swims in polar waters. This specimen is about the width of a finger.

This striking creature, a Venus flytrap anemone (Actinoscyphia sp.), was photographed in the Gulf of Mexico. The anemone is so named because it resembles the land-based Venus flytrap, a carnivorous plant.

Gary Cranitch's photographs for CReefs were recognized for excellence by the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers. This spectacular jellyfish inhabits the water of Australia's Great Barrier Reef off Lizard Island.

The leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques, is camouflaged to resemble a piece of drifting seaweed.

This pink see-through fantasia, Enypniastes, is a swimming sea cucumber seen about a mile and a half (2,500 meters) deep in Southeast Asia's Celebes Sea.

A golden lace nudibranch, Halgerda terramtuentis, was collected in the waters of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

This specimen of the jellyfish species known as Crossota norvegica was collected from the deep Arctic Canada Basin with a remotely operated vehicle.