A great white shark opens it mouth just before it attacks its prey with a crippling, powerful bite. After the prey has been disabled, the shark will often wait for it to weaken from blood loss before resuming the attack. If the shark looses a tooth in the course of the bite, a replacement just behind it will move forward to take its place.
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 19452
A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico's Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean.
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 19465
Bristlecone pine displays its characteristic gnarled, twisted form as it rises above the arid, dolomite-rich slopes of the White Mountains at 11000-foot elevation. Patriarch Grove, Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.
Species: Bristlecone Pine, Pinus longaeva
Location: White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California
Image ID: 17475
White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35908
California brown pelican in flight, spreading wings wide to slow in anticipation of landing on seacliffs. Note the classic winter breeding plumage, with bright red throat, yellow and white head and neck, and brown hind neck. Other pelicans and cormorants at the periphery of the image hint at how crowded the cliff is with other birds.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 36679
Barrier Reef around Moorea Island, French Polynesia. Cook's Bay to the left, Opunohu Bay to the right. The outer reef slope is seen adjacent to deep blue oceanic water with white waves breaking against the reef edge. Next, a wide shallow reef flat occurs dotted with coral bommies. Inside of that, a shallow protected lagoon is formed against the island. Tall, rugged, eroded mountains are seen hinting at the age of the ancient volcano that originally formed the island and that is now sinking back down, leaving the encircling reef behind.
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France
Image ID: 40676
Panorama dimensions: 5501 x 11925
Pacific Harbor Seal Pup in La Jolla About Three Weeks Old, hauled out on a white sand beach along the coast of San Diego. This young seal will be weaned off its mothers milk and care when it is about four to six weeks old, and before that time it must learn how to forage for food on its own, a very difficult time for a young seal.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39071
Barrier Reef around Moorea Island, French Polynesia. Motu Tiahura (left) and Motu Fareone (right) are the small islands in the foreground. The outer reef slope is seen adjacent to deep blue oceanic water with white waves breaking against the reef edge. Next, a wide shallow reef flat occurs dotted with coral bommies. Inside of that, a shallow protected lagoon is formed against the island. Tall, rugged, eroded mountains are seen hinting at the age of the ancient volcano that originally formed the island and that is now sinking back down, leaving the encircling reef behind.
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France
Image ID: 40614
Panorama dimensions: 5717 x 11305
A perfect Brown Pelican Head Throw with Distant Ocean in Background, bending over backwards, stretching its neck and gular pouch. Note the winter breeding plumage, yellow head, red and olive throat, pink skin around the eye, brown hind neck with some white neck side detail, gray breast and body.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39873
A Perfect Yellow Phase Brown Pelican Head Throw with Distant Ocean in Background, bending over backwards, stretching its neck and gular pouch. Note the winter breeding plumage except with bright yellow throat instead of the more typical red, yellow head, pink skin around the eye, brown hind neck with some white neck side detail, gray breast and body.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 40809
Male Brandt's Cormorant Skypointing, Courtship Display, Breeding Plumage with blue throat and white pin-feathers, La Jolla. Skypointing is an interesting courtship behavior that many birds practice. Among Brandt's Cormorants the male performs this, likely as a way of attracting a mate to the nest he has built by showing off his striking blue throat. He tips his head backward showing off his striking blue throat, and partially raises his wings. Seen here on seacliffs above the ocean.
Species: Brandt's cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Image ID: 36801