Blue whale. The sleek hydrodynamic shape of the enormous blue whale allows it to swim swiftly through the ocean, at times over one hundred miles in a single day.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 21250
Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 39422
Rostrum and callosities of southern right whale, Eubalaena australis. Whale lice can be seen attached to the collosities, which are patches of thickened keratinized tissue, like calluses (thus the name). The pattern of callosities on a right whale are unique and serve as a way to identify individuals throughout their lifetime.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38450
A huge blue whale swims through the open ocean in this aerial photograph. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on Earth.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02169
Blue whale aerial photo, with the shadow of the survey plane providing scale as to how huge the whale really is.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02168
Blue whale fluking up (raising its tail) before a dive to forage for krill, Baja California (Mexico).
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 03332
Early Snow and Late Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors, Asheville, North Carolina.
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Image ID: 34637
Early Snow and Late Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors, Asheville, North Carolina.
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Image ID: 34642
Early Snow and Late Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors, Asheville, North Carolina.
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Image ID: 34647
Early Snow and Late Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors, Asheville, North Carolina.
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Image ID: 34648
The Eiffel Tower with the Trocodero seen in the distance across the Seine, Paris, France. The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed the tower in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. The Eiffel tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world.
Location: Tour Eiffel, Paris, France
Image ID: 35601
Red gorgonian and California golden gorgonian on underwater rocky reef, San Clemente Island. The golden gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Species: Red gorgonian, California golden gorgonian, Leptogorgia chilensis, Lophogorgia chilensis, Muricea californica
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 38499
Closeup Portrait of the Face of a Giant Black Sea Bass, showing parasitic sea lice. These parasites find their nutrition from the skin and blood of the host giant sea bass. Smaller fishes such as senoritas and wrasses will commonly clean the sea lice off the giant sea bass.
Species: Giant black sea bass, Stereolepis gigas
Location: Catalina Island, California
Image ID: 39436
Full moon with 22-degree lunar halo, Joshua Tree National Park. The lunar halo (not to be cofused with lunar corona) forms when moonlight refracts through high altitude ice crystals. As no light is refracted at angles smaller than 22-degrees the sky is darker inside the halo.
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Image ID: 30711
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
Humpback whale mother, calf (top), male escort (rear), underwater. A young humpback calf typically swims alongside or above its mother, and male escorts will usually travel behind the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02819
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 female (left) during a competitive group. The bubble curtain may be meant as warning or visual obstruction to other male whales interested in the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02828
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: 05925
Aerial photo of gray whale calf and mother. This baby gray whale was born during the southern migration, far to the north of the Mexican lagoons of Baja California where most gray whale births take place.
Species: Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus
Location: San Clemente, California
Image ID: 29017
Scripps Pier solstice, surfer's view from among the waves, sunset aligned perfectly with the pier. Research pier at Scripps Institution of Oceanography SIO, sunset.
Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
Image ID: 30150
Blue whale, exhaling as it surfaces from a dive, aerial photo. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth, exceeding 100' in length and 200 tons in weight.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: Redondo Beach, California
Image ID: 25951