Ocean Life
Voyage to the Remote Phoenix Islands
The Phoenix Islands aren’t obvious on a map—eight scattered coral atolls barely above sea level…
The Hunt for Microbial ‘Trojan Horses’
In summer, Wood Neck Beach in Woods Hole, Mass., teems with tourists, but only a…
The WHOI Marine Mammal Center Is Born …
The WHOI Marine Mammal Center Is Born … A new center has been established at…
To Free a Tangled Whale
Scientists successfully used a new sedative delivery system for the first time on a large…
Buoys Help Avert Whale-Ship Collisions
A lot of lines crisscross, run parallel, and ultimately connect in this story. The first…
Letters to the Editor
We welcome letters from our readers to discuss material published in Oceanus magazine and will…
Jason Meets the Carnivorous Sea Squirt
Tito Collasius, an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has witnessed some of oceanography’s more…
Supreme Court Weighs in on Whales and Sonar
Arguments about the impact of Navy sonar on marine mammals rose to the highest court…
Creatures of the Celebes Sea
Where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet lies a region known as the “coral triangle”—a…
Another Greenhouse Gas to Watch: Nitrous Oxide
There’s a greenhouse gas whose concentration is on the rise because of human activities. But…
Tracking Nitrogen’s Elusive Trail in the Ocean
Humans often seem to be unable to fix a problem without creating a new one.…
A Tale of Two Oceans, and the Monsoons
Every summer, the continent of Asia takes a big breath. This inhalation pulls moisture-laden air…
A Most Ingenious Paradoxical Plankton
Everybody has a unique place in the world, a job to do, a niche to…
Shellfish’s Mysterious Pathways to Adulthood
With a cool ocean breeze under a cloudless sky, children weave small sailboats through the…
A Tag Fit for a Porpoise
In 2003, Stacy DeRuiter arrived as a graduate student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI),…
Listening In As Bacteria ‘Talk’ to Each Other
The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal … about…
One Man’s Swamp Is a Fish’s Nursery
A parade of schoolmaster snapper swims by me, their neon yellow fins directing traffic. Echoing…
Are Sea Squirts Crowding Out Scallops?
Over the last 10 years, Mary Carman has documented how slimy sea squirts have invaded…
The Spiral Secret to Mammal Hearing
The spiral secrets of mammals? hearing abilities Whispering galleries are curious features of circular buildings.…
Testing the Waters and Closing Beaches
On a warm, tranquil evening this summer, Falmouth resident Annette Hynes took a friend down…
Biochemical Warfare on the Reef
Just beneath the tranquil, clear waters of the tropical Caribbean, unseen by all but a…