Marine Marvel

A male peacock mantis shrimp plies the seafloor off Papua New Guinea. These garishly colored crustaceans are favorites of the aquarium trade.
Photograph by Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures


The red-spotted eye of a red Irish lord fish stands out in God's Pocket Marine Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. These colorful fish live in the North Pacific and are often found in rocky areas close to shore.
Photograph by Paul Nicklen

Tiny teeth and yellow nostrils flash as a male blue ribbon eel opens wide in the Fiji Islands. The expanded nostrils end with fanlike flourishes, and the tip of the eel's lower jaw terminates with three tentacles. But those are not all of its tricks—the ribbon eel also can abruptly change its sex.
Photograph by Tim Laman




Most toadfish wear ornate, fleshy protrusions to blend in with the reefs where they make their home. The three-spined species, shown here in the waters off Western Australia, is among the largest of the toadfish, reaching 12 inches (30 centimeters) long.
Photograph by Fred Bavendam/Minden Pictures




Lionfish like this one in Papua New Guinea are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide. Their wispy dorsal fins contain toxin-filled needles used to dissuade would-be predators.
Photograph by Birgitte Wilms/Minden Pictures




Frogfish, also called anglerfish, wear some of the most striking colors and ornate physical adornments in the ocean. Here, a crimson-tinted species rests on a reef near the Solomon Islands.
Photograph by Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures




A freckle-face blenny peeks from its reef burrow in the Solomon Islands. Blennies are found throughout the world's ocean, usually in shallow water. Some species are even known to lounge out of the water on rocks.
Photograph by Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures




Like a marine Mick Jagger, a rosy-lipped batfish pouts near Costa Rica's Cocos Island. Batfish are poor swimmers, preferring to use their strangely adapted pectoral fins like legs to crawl about the seafloor.
Photograph by Birgitte Wilms/Minden Pictures




Crown jellyfish live in all the world's oceans, usually at significant depths. Here, a bright-red specimen samples the shallow waters around Papua New Guinea.
Photograph by Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures