This Week's Most Frequently Viewed Images

Blue whale, caudal stem, fluke with median notch.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02220  

West Indian manatee calf with viral skin infection covering body.
Species: West indian manatee, Trichechus manatus
Location: Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Image ID: 06104  

Starfish (sea star), detail showing tube feet ending in small suckers.
Species: Giant sea star, Pisaster giganteus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 07015  

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: 32940  

Lodgepole pine trees, Yosemite Valley.
Species: Lodgepole pine tree, Pinus contortus
Location: Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 07045  

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

Great White Shark, South Neptune Islands, South Australia.
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: South Neptune Islands, South Australia
Image ID: 39145  

A neonate gray whale calf, born just hours before, still exhbiting embryonic folds in the skin along its side. This baby gray whale was born in the cold waters of Big Sur, far to the north of the Mexican lagoons of Baja California where most gray whale births take place.
Species: Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus
Location: Monterey, California
Image ID: 01135  

A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and tuna.
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 07666  

Adult male humpback whale bubble streaming underwater. The male escort humpback whale seen here is emitting a curtain of bubbles as it swims behind a mother and calf. The bubble curtain may be meant as warning or visual obstruction to other nearby male whales interested in the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05926  

Four-eyed fish, found in the Amazon River delta of South America. The name four-eyed fish is actually a misnomer. It has only two eyes, but both are divided into aerial and aquatic parts. The two retinal regions of each eye, working in concert with two different curvatures of the eyeball above and below water to account for the difference in light refractivity for air and water, allow this amazing fish to see clearly above and below the water surface simultaneously.
Species: Four-eyed fish, Anableps anableps
Image ID: 09381  

Young brown bear grazes in tall sedge grass. Brown bears can consume 30 lbs of sedge grass daily, waiting weeks until spawning salmon fill the rivers.
Species: Brown bear, Ursus arctos
Location: Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
Image ID: 19147  

Enormous Ocean sunfish and freediving photographer, open ocean.
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 03491  

The Grizzly Giant Sequoia Tree in Yosemite. Giant sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum), roots spreading outward at the base of each massive tree, rise from the shaded forest floor. Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park.
Location: Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 36402  

A curious Adelie penguin, standing at the edge of an iceberg, looks over the photographer.
Species: Adelie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae
Location: Paulet Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Image ID: 25015  

Roman emperor Antonius Pius (138-161 A.D.), depicted on ancient Roman coin (bronze, denom/type: Sestertius) (Sestertius Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIUS PP TR P XXIII. Reverse: FORTUNA OBSEQVENS COS IIII SC. Fortuna Obsequens std. left., holding rudder and cornucopiae.).
Image ID: 06559  

Brilliantlly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Bligh Waters, Fiji
Image ID: 34708  

Red saddleback anemonefish.
Species: Red saddleback anemonefish, Amphiprion ephippium
Image ID: 07793  

The Raft of the Medusa, Le Radeau de la Meduse, oil painting by French Romantic painter Theodore Gericault, 1819. Musee du Louvre.
Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
Image ID: 28107  

Hypostyle Hall of Columns, Karnak Temple complex.
Location: Luxor, Egypt
Image ID: 18482  

Blue whales, adult and juvenile (likely mother and calf), swimming together side by side underwater in the open ocean.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 34568  

Spectacular display of pristine cabbage coral, Turbinaria reniformis, in Nigali Pass on Gao Island, Fiji.
Species: Cabbage coral, Tubinaria reniformis, Cabbage coral, Turbinaria reniformis
Location: Nigali Passage, Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji
Image ID: 31314  

North Pacific humpback whale showing extensive scarring, almost certainly from a boat propeller, on dorsal ridge. This female North Pacific humpback whale was first seen with the depicted lacerations near the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-90s, and is the original humpback to bear the name 'Blade Runner'. This female has apparently recovered, as evidenced the calf she was observed nurturing. A South Pacific humpback whale endured a similar injury in Sydney Australia in 2001, and bears a remarkably similar scar pattern to the above-pictured whale.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05910  

Rattlesnake Canyon, a beautiful slot canyon that is part of the larger Antelope Canyon system. Page, Arizona.
Location: Navajo Tribal Lands, Page, Arizona
Image ID: 36034  

Pelagic red tuna crab, open ocean.
Species: Pelagic red crab, Pleuroncodes planipes
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 02247  

Garibaldi with a tiny bit of juvenile blue coloration.
Species: Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus
Location: California
Image ID: 02514  

Guadalupe fur seal pup sits on brown rocks along the coastline of Guadalupe Island.
Species: Guadalupe fur seal, Arctocephalus townsendi
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 02441  

Adult male humpback whale singing, suspended motionless underwater. Only male humpbacks have been observed singing. All humpbacks in the North Pacific sing the same whale song each year, and the song changes slightly from one year to the next.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02796  

Hydrocoral and gorgonian.
Species: Hydrocoral, Red gorgonian, Allopora californica, Stylaster californicus, Leptogorgia chilensis, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 00637  

Kelp frond showing pneumatocysts (air bladders).
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 03411