This Week's Most Frequently Viewed Images

The General Sherman Sequoia tree is the largest (most massive) living thing on earth, standing over 275 feet tall with a 36 diameter and 102 circumference at its base. Its volume is over 53,000 cubic feet. It is estimated to be 2300 to 2700 years old.
Species: Giant sequoia tree, Sequoiadendron giganteum
Location: Giant Forest, Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, California
Image ID: 09872  

Water Lily Pond, Green Harmony, 1899, Claude Monet, Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
Location: Musee dOrsay, Paris, France
Image ID: 35615  

Del Mar Beach at Sunset, northern San Diego County.
Location: Del Mar, California
Image ID: 35067  

Hammerhead sharks, schooling, black and white / grainy.
Species: Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini
Location: Wolf Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Image ID: 16260  

Oakum boys, juvenile king penguins at Salisbury Plain, South Georgia Island. Named 'oakum boys' by sailors for the resemblance of their brown fluffy plumage to the color of oakum used to caulk timbers on sailing ships, these year-old penguins will soon shed their fluffy brown plumage and adopt the colors of an adult.
Species: King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus
Location: Salisbury Plain, South Georgia Island
Image ID: 24405  

A Florida manatee, or West Indian Manatee, swims slowly through the clear waters of Crystal River.
Species: West indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Image ID: 02696  

Salp (pelagic tunicate) chain.
Species: Salp, Pegea confoederata
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 02494  

Brittlebush blooming in spring, Palm Canyon.
Species: Brittlebush, Encelia farinosa
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California
Image ID: 10534  

Lemon shark with live sharksuckers.
Species: Lemon shark, Echeneis naucrates, Negaprion brevirostris
Location: Bahamas
Image ID: 10753  

Horn shark.
Species: Horn shark, Heterodontus francisci
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 01071  

Aerial Photo of Tijuana Bullring and Coastal Tijuana.
Location: Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 30704  

Coastal brown bear forages for razor clams on mud flats at extreme low tide.
Species: Brown bear, Ursus arctos
Location: Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
Image ID: 19221  

Humpback whale blowhole.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 04284  

Clipperton Rock, a 95' high volcanic remnant, is the highest point on Clipperton Island, a spectacular coral atoll in the eastern Pacific. By permit HC / 1485 / CAB (France).
Location: Clipperton Island, France
Image ID: 32829  

Coyote, Sierra Nevada foothills, Mariposa, California.
Species: Coyote, Canis latrans
Image ID: 15871  

San Diego Coronado Bridge, known locally as the Coronado Bridge, links San Diego with Coronado, California. The bridge was completed in 1969 and was a toll bridge until 2002. It is 2.1 miles long and reaches a height of 200 feet above San Diego Bay. Coronado Island is to the left, and downtown San Diego is to the right in this view looking north.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 22288  

Banggai Cardinalfish. Once thought to be found at Banggai Island near Sulawesi, Indonesia, it has recently been found at Lembeh Strait and elsewhere. The male incubates the egg mass in his mouth, then shelters a brood of 10-15 babies in his mouth after they hatch, the only fish known to exhibit this behaviour. Unfortunately, the aquarium trade is threatening the survival of this species in the wild.
Species: Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni
Image ID: 09231  

Hammerhead sharks, schooling over sand, Darwin Island, Galapagos.
Species: Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini
Location: Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Image ID: 16255  

California Brown Pelican flying over a breaking wave.
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 30363  

Scalloped hammerhead shark.
Species: Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini
Location: Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Image ID: 16249  

Turtle grass is the most common seagrass in the Caribbean, typically growing on sandy and coral rubble bottoms to a depth of 30 feet.
Species: Turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum
Location: Great Isaac Island, Bahamas
Image ID: 10857  

American black bear, adult male.
Species: American black bear, Ursus americanus
Image ID: 12249  

Ocean sunfish and photographer, open ocean.
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 03324  

Purple-striped jelly.
Species: Purple-striped jellyfish, Chrysaora colorata
Image ID: 08971  

Factory Butte at sunrise. An exceptional example of a solitary butte surrounded by dramatically eroded badlands, Factory Butte stands alone on the San Rafael Swell.
Location: Factory Butte, Hanksville, Utah
Image ID: 38054  

A blue whale raises its fluke before diving in search of food. The blue whale is the largest animal on earth, reaching 80 feet in length and weighing as much as 300,000 pounds. North Coronado Island is in the background.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 09484  

Willet on sand.
Species: Willet, Catoptrophurus semipalmatus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 18424  

Clipperton Rock, a 95' high volcanic remnant, is the highest point on Clipperton Island, a spectacular coral atoll in the eastern Pacific. The Pacific Ocean encircling the atoll is seen to the right of the white sand beach, and the lagoon inside the atoll is behind Clipperton Rock. By permit HC / 1485 / CAB (France).
Location: Clipperton Island, France
Image ID: 32837  

A bull elephant seal (adult male) surveys the beach. The huge proboscis is characteristic of the species. Scarring from combat with other males. Central California.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 15460  

UCSD Library glows at sunset (Geisel Library, UCSD Central Library).
Location: University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
Image ID: 14775