pacific ocean

Edward Ricketts built his laboratory just onshore from the swirling tidepools of Monterey Bay, California, an ideal backdrop against which he developed a new system for studying the ecology of any given habitat.

Genetic evidence points to individuals from South America having possibly floated on a raft to Polynesian islands about 500 years before Europeans navigated there.

Rather than making its own light, a shallow-water marine fish gets all the tools that it needs for bioluminescence production from eating tiny, glowing crustaceans.

The discovery of ancient clades of brittle stars at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean adds to concerns that commercial exploitation of the area could destroy numerous taxa before they’ve even been identified.

Bleaching killed 34 percent of the island’s reefs between 2013 and 2017, a study finds.

Southeast Alaska’s humpback whales haven’t changed their calls for close to four decades.

The 600-meter-long structure will tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a huge buildup of trash floating between California and Hawaii—but not everyone thinks it will work.

Each year, bioluminescent microorganisms create striking displays on the beaches of San Diego.

The variation may help explain why stocked salmon don’t fare as well in the ocean.

The elimination of the biting pests was an added bonus after researchers unleashed a rat-eradication endeavor on the tiny islands.  

The president exercises his authority to expand an existing marine reserve, making it the largest in the world.