27 Items Tagged

Deep Sea

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AO Mailbag: Which Places Just Aren’t Worth Visiting?

We look for wonder everywhere we go. But today, let’s talk about the trips that aren’t worth it.

The Podcast Team June 24, 2025

Northern elephant seals hunt nearly nonstop for more than half the year, with each seal making tens of thousands of dives in search of food.

Are There Plenty of Fish in the Sea? Ask an Elephant Seal.

In California, deep-diving marine mammals help scientists count how many fish live in the ocean's twilight zone.

Annie Roth February 24, 2025

Even from 140 million miles away, we are impacted by our smaller planetary neighbor.

We Know the Moon Makes Tides, but What About Mars?

Recent research suggests that our planetary neighbor causes a stir deep under the ocean.

Robin George Andrews April 2, 2024

The new species is about a foot long, and like other species, curls into a ball with their suckers pointing out when protecting their eggs.

New Species of Octopus Thrives in Deep Sea Nurseries

At warm, deep sea springs off Costa Rica's Pacific Coast, throngs of octopus "balls" gather to tend their brood.

Roxanne Hoorn January 16, 2024

"The delicate siphonophores and their long tentacles trailing behind painted a picture of delicate grace," says Helynn Ospina. "I loved how these turned out and my special glimpse into the mysteries of the deep ocean."

A Year of Ethereal and Illuminating Photographs

Places and cultures glow and shine around the world in some of our favorite Atlas Obscura shots.

Danielle Hallock December 28, 2023

Into The Deep: The Journey to Bring Amazing Deep Sea Animals to the Surface

The Monterey Bay Aquarium displays vibrant jellies, fascinating fishes, and the largest crab in the world.

Sponsored By Monterey Bay Aquarium

Monterey, California

Into The Deep/En lo Profundo Exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Enormous crabs, bioluminescent jellies, and other amazing creatures from the ocean’s depths—some of which are in an aquarium for the first time ever.

Podcast: Into the Twilight Zone With Susan Casey

Investigating the secrets hidden deep below the water's surface.

The Podcast Team October 24, 2023

Oarfish sport red spine-like fins on their head and a long dorsal fin running the length of their body, as well as two oar-like pelvic fins, giving them their name.

The Legend of Japan's 'Earthquake Fish'

The serpent-like oarfish has long been considered an omen of natural disaster. Scientists are shaking up that old superstition.

Roxanne Hoorn October 3, 2023

The basket star (<em>Gorgonocephalus eucnemis</em>), on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is a deep sea species related to the sea stars seen in more shallow waters.

How to Recreate the Deepest, Darkest Ocean

Revealing the unseen world under Monterey Bay.

Kevin McLean April 25, 2023

Tube worms crowd around the Matterhorn, a hydrothermal vent in the Gulf of California, photographed by ROV <em>SuBastian</em> during a recent expedition that included artist-at-sea Ale de la Puente.

A Deep Dive Into the Intersection of Art and Science With an Artist-at-Sea

Ale de la Puente collaborates with researchers to explore new ways of understanding our universe.

Gemma Tarlach December 3, 2021

Tharp working on an early map of the seafloor.

The Woman Who Changed the Way We See the Seafloor

Marie Tharp's historic maps of underwater topography reimagined two-thirds of the Earth.

Suzanne OConnell July 30, 2020

Once the lights go on, colors emerge. Most of this bed of hard coral belongs to the genus <em>Leptoseris</em>, a group abundant in the deeper waters of Hawaiʻi, but observed here for the first time in the Coral Sea. The pink and reddish hues belong to photosynthetic algae pulling energy from the dim light.

Turning On the Lights in the Ocean's Twilight Zone

The surprising colors of Australia's Coral Sea Marine Park.

Luna Shyr July 7, 2020

Ivvet Modinou, the namesake of a newly discovered deep-sea worm, on an earlier trip in her role as a science communicator.

What It’s Like to Be The Namesake of a Deep-Sea Worm

We asked Ivvet Modinou about the underwater creature that shares her name: P. modinouae.

Isaac Schultz June 22, 2020

The gator's red-tipped bones indicate that bone worms have come to feast.

The Curious Case of the Deep-Sea Bone Worms and the Vanishing Underwater Gator

Scientists dropped three alligators to the bottom of the ocean. One of them was never seen again.

Sabrina Imbler January 29, 2020

Video • Object of Intrigue

A Colossal Squid Is Hiding in New Zealand

A crab crusted in parasites.

A Decade Later, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Has Left an Abyssal Wasteland

A nightmare at 6,000 feet.

Sabrina Imbler September 18, 2019

Only a few inches long, Sloan's viperfish is an apex predator in the twilight zone.

The Ocean's Eerie Twilight Zone Is in Murky Legal Water

Scientists are trying to keep one of the world’s last great wildernesses intact.

Sabrina Imbler September 5, 2019