Marine Animals
"When threatened it slips into a crevice and inflates its body like a rubber raft. Within seconds, it's twice its original size and wedged in place."
How and why the swell shark can inflate itself to twice its size
Can any animal kill an orca, the ocean’s undisputed apex predator?
No other predator is able to challenge the orca, says Melissa Hobson
Giant crab seen marching along seafloor. What happened next shocked these scientists
Marine researchers watched open-mouthed as a lithodid crab pulled a brittle star limb from limb and devoured its body.
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“My mind was completely blown.” This diver was filming fish in Borneo, when suddenly the shoal parted to reveal a breathtaking sight
Sipadan Island in Borneo is famous for its healthy reefs and bustling marine life – as this incredible footage shows.
Deep-sea 'ghost shark' spotted feeding in the shallows off the coast of Vancouver Island
These deep-ocean fish usually spend their time around 1,000 metres below the surface, but sometimes they rise to the shallows where humans might be lucky enough to spot them.
It has human-like, sharp chisel teeth and a powerful bite. Divers are advised to swim away, as making for the surface only encourages an attack…
Here's everything you need to know about the titan triggerfish
“I screamed before the rest of it came into the screen.” Deep-sea scientists film rare creature deep in Pacific Ocean
The elusive animal was filmed swimming near an underwater mountain off the coast of California
In 1941, a massive WWII ship sank off the coast of Albania. Divers just went down there – and found a rare mammal living among the wreck
This 135m-long wartime shipwreck has become an artificial reef, home to groupers, wrasse, lionfish and critically endangered Mediterranean monk seals.
See the chilling moment this vampire squid turns itself inside out
As if this body inversion manoeuvre wasn't surreal enough, the ‘vampire squid from hell’ also exudes a cloak of bioluminescent mucous from its crimson body to help deter predators.
"Even amongst their fellow apex predators, they are still top of the food chain…" 7 animals so formidable they have virtually no predators
While most animals that have no predators are what we call ‘apex predators’, meaning they are right at the top of the food chain, this is not always the case.
Divers hid a camera in a lobster den. What happened next shocked them all
Scientists in Australia were surprised to see Port Jackson and crested horn sharks appear out of the darkness.
Camera dropped under San Diego pier, then this scuttled over the lens
Ocean lovers can watch the world unfold below the waves from wherever they are via the Scripps Pier underwater camera.
It looks like spaghetti, doesn’t have a gut or mouth – and has been feeding on bioplastics for millions of years
Long before we invented biodegradable plastic, nature had its own version.
No one lives on this remote Russian island – but it does have a mysterious graveyard of gigantic, 600-year-old whale bones
Located off the coast of the Russian Far East, Yttygran Island is home to a mysterious graveyard.
“As if they were showing off their tusks." Herd of walruses surrounds small tourist boat in the Arctic
With no one else around, these Arctic tourists got a close-up view of a lively group of walruses.
Astonishing image of scorpionfish devouring prey whole among Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 finalists
Delve into the hidden worlds of our oceans with the 2026 finalists.
“That puzzled us quite a bit.” Scientists found another astonishing thing about narwhals after X-raying their tusks
The narwhal tusk is one of the more unique structures in the animal kingdom.
"100 million years ago creatures living in a coastal lagoon, fringed by trees, had just had a sexual encounter when they would be entombed forever"
The astonishing 2020 discovery, found fossilised in amber in Myanmar, was hailed as a ‘spectacular find’ by scientists.
It looks like coral and behaves like coral, but touch it and you’ll get a nasty, burning sting that can last for hours
Fire coral has astounded scientists because of how it grows. Here's why
This ocean titan has 9 brains, hunts sharks at night and can grow as long as a school bus
The largest specimen ever found reportedly measured 9.75m long and weighed 272kg. Here's everything you need to know about the giant Pacific octopus.
A group of sea turtles were tagged in the Galápagos. When experts looked at the data, they noticed something odd
Satellite tags reveal ‘homebody’ nature of some Galápagos sea turtles.
When a colossal iceberg broke free in Antarctica, scientists found something astounding beneath it
With the help of a remotely operated vehicle, the researchers discovered a breathtaking world hidden under the ice for centuries.
It looks like a woodlouse, but is the size of a pet cat and has an impressive 14 legs – and can take on a shark if desperate…
Nick Baker takes a look at the super-sized crustacean that lives in the deepest, darkest ocean: the giant isopod
It's a terrifying, ruthless, 3-metre long, deep-sea predator that can slice its prey in half – and its venom can cause permanent numbness in humans
The Bobbit worm is a fearsome marine predator that burrows into the sand and waits for unsuspecting prey. Stuart Blackman explains all you need to know about this terrifying marine worm
