NOAA:
pic00: A goosefish (Sladenia remiger) sits on a rock in a submarine canyon, using its modified dorsal fin to lure unsuspecting fishes to its mouth. Image courtesy of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Expedition 2003.

pic01: A deep-sea Chimaera. Chimaera’s are most closely related to sharks, although their evolutionary lineage branched off from sharks nearly 400 million years ago, and they have remained an isolated group ever since. Like sharks, chimaera’s are cartilaginous and have no real bones. The lateral lines running across this chimaera are mechano-receptors that detect pressure waves (just like ears). The dotted-looking lines on the frontal portion of the face (near the mouth) are ampullae de lorenzini and they detect perturbations in electrical fields generated by living organisms. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010.

pic02: A lovely sea cucumber dancing in the water column is imaged by the Little Hercules ROV at approximately 1500 meters depth offshore Kona, Hawaii. Image taken during ROV shakedown operations aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer on March 22, 2010. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.


pic03: The Green Sea Turtle ("Honu" in Hawaiian) is the most commonly found turtle in the Hawaiian Islands. Although this species is more abundant than the nearly-extinct Hawksbill and easier to locate than the deep-sea dwelling Leatherback, it is still an endangered species. It is against the law to touch, ride or otherwise harass a Green Sea Turtle.

While snorkeling off the southern coast of Maui, I was fortunate enough to find myself in the exact location of a Turtle rising to the surface and who came so close that I had to exert myself to keep from touching the animal. I did, however, manage to snap a few photos while he lingered nearby.

Rex Bennett


pic04: Seahorse is the title given to forty-seven species of marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippos meaning "horse" and kampos meaning "sea monster".

Doug Anderson


pic05: The magnificent Shark's Cove attraction at Sea World on Australia's Gold Coast gets you up close and personal to the top of the food chain

Allan Lee



pic06: A foreign woman ran up to me and put it in my hand and said "Here you go, starfish, be happy! be smiley!"

Mark Walz


pic07: This from Yokohama Sea Paradise water tunnel. A dolphin couple passing by, shot taken from underneath with a Sigma 10-20, most likely at 10 mm. My 10th photo on explore and frontpage (#22 at best) at that, thanks everyone!

Just learnt a lesson about Explore! This photo was doing fine until I started accepting 5-6 invitations to post the photo in "invited" groups that require comments. Instantly after posting to these groups the photo disappeared from the Explore radar! Thus, if you reach a nice position, resist those invitations if you want to remain.


Patrik Jones

pic08: Citation: Mah, C. (2010). Iconaster longimanus (Mobius, 1859). In: Mah, C.L. (2010). World Asteroidea database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=254823 on 2012-07-31

(def. below is an excerpt from http://echinoblog.blogspot.com.es/2010/01/iconaster-longimanus-got-starfish-share.html)
Iconaster longimanus: Its name Icon is from the Greek eikon for portrait or image, and possibly refers to the way the marginal plates form a frame around the edge. And -aster of course refers to the word "star".

Its species name longimanus translates into "long hands" which clearly makes reference to the extended arms.