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Photos: The Richness of Life in Our Oceans

The Atlantic
July 15, 2026 at 4:19 PM
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Photos: The Richness of Life in Our Oceans

Images of the incredibly wide variety of marine life on our planet, including seabirds, marine mammals, fish, corals, crustaceans, and much more

An orca swims past, seen underwater, just below the surface.
Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty
A male orca chases a baitball of herring near Spildra Island, in northern Norway, on November 3, 2025. Dozens of killer whales and their clans follow schools of herring gathering in the fjords of northern Norway from October to January, on the hunt.
A seal looks around on a rocky shoreline, in shallow gentle waves.
Trevor Wilkinson / MI News / NurPhoto / Getty
A grey seal, photographed on the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England, on May 31, 2026
The tendrils of a sea anemone appear to glow red and yellow in an ultraviolet photograph.
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
A sea anemone, imaged using a blue-light source and ultraviolet photography, in the Red Sea, off the coast of Egypt, on July 29, 2025
An underwater view of a mangrove forest - many small roots reaching up from a shallow seafloor
Alexis Rosenfeld / Getty
An underwater view of a mangrove forest in the Mayotte Marine Natural Park, seen on November 28, 2017, in the Comoros archipelago, in the Indian Ocean. The mangroves of Mayotte are home to seven species of mangrove trees. Mangroves are among the most biomass-productive ecosystems on the planet.
A scuba diver swims inside a dense school of fish.
Özge Elif Kızıl / Anadolu / Getty
A diver swims among fish in Kicker Rock Islet near San Cristobal Island, part of the Galapagos archipelago, on February 9, 2025. Galapagos National Park spans 13 main islands and numerous islets, and is home to more than 2,900 marine species.
A marine iguana swims, seen above and below the water's surface.
Ernesto Benavides / AFP / Getty
A marine iguana swims in Tortuga Bay off Santa Cruz Island, part of the Galapagos archipelago in Ecuador, on March 6, 2024.
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Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
Starfish walk across piles of shells in the Sea of Marmara, near Yalova, Turkey, on May 8, 2026.
Penguins clamber down a tall iceberg, with the lower few leaping toward the water.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty
Gentoo penguins clamber down a tall iceberg near Adelaide Island in Antarctica on February 14, 2025.
A shark, surrounded by striped pilot fish, seen from below, underwater
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
A shark, surrounded by pilot fish, swims along Saint John’s Reef in the Red Sea, along southern Egypt, on August 27, 2025.
Distant reflections of sunlight are seen as a northern gannet flies over the sea.
Dan Kitwood / Getty
A northern gannet flies over the sea at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ Bempton Cliffs reserve on the East Yorkshire coast, on May 26, 2026, in Bridlington, England. About 20,000 Gannets, which pair for life and can live for more than 20 years, make up the quarter of a million seabirds that return to nest each summer on the 100-meter-high chalk cliffs.
A group of dolphins swims past a small boat as a young person in that boat leans over to watch them.
Denis Poroy / AP
A girl watches a pod of common dolphins fleeing an orca off of Point Loma on January 29, 2024, near San Diego.
A close view of a hermit crab
Lokman Ilhan / Anadolu / Getty
A hermit crab, photographed up close, off the coast of Karaburun in İzmir, Turkey, on June 21, 2026.
A manta ray swims just below the surface of blue ocean water.
Alexis Rosenfeld / Getty
A reef manta ray swims in the Mayotte Marine Natural Park, in the Comoros Archipelago of the Indian Ocean, on November 26, 2017. Created in 2010, Mayotte Marine Natural Park was the first to have been created by France in its overseas territories.
A colorful sea slug crawls on coral.
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
A Chromodoris annae, a type of sea slug, photographed near Si Amil Island, in Tawau, Malaysia, on June 4, 2026
A humpback whale surfaces and dives near a distant large iceberg.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty
A humpback whale surfaces and dives in Antarctic waters near an iceberg on February 4, 2026.
A school of fish swarms around the underwater wreck of a cargo ship—specifically a group of decaying 1940s-era motorcycles.
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
As photographed on September 10, 2025, fish swarm around part of the underwater wreck of the British cargo ship Thistlegorm, which was sunk by German aircraft in 1941. The wreck, situated about 40 kilometers west of Sharm El-Sheikh, off the coast of Egypt, is one of the Red Sea’s most popular diving spots. Armored vehicles, jeeps, and Norton motorcycles designed for the desert all lie in the dark waters, serving as a habitat for diverse marine life.
A puffin returns to its burrow with a few sand eels in its beak.
Trevor Wilkinson / MI News / NurPhoto / Getty
An Atlantic puffin returns to its burrow with sand eels in its beak, on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, England, on May 31, 2026.
An overhead view of a humpback whale swimming along the surface.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty
A humpback whale swims past an Antarctic science expedition on March 1, 2025.
A sea turtle hatchling crawls on a sandy beach.
Jwala Kotesh / NurPhoto / Getty
Olive ridley sea turtles emerge from a nest in a protected hatchery along the shore in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India, on April 1, 2026.
Fish swim in and near a sea anemone.
Mahmut Serdar Alakuş / Anadolu / Getty
A view of the vibrant underwater world at one of Musandam’s popular diving sites in Khasab, Oman, on August 28, 2025
A close view of a giant clam, partially open, showing a blue interior
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
A giant clam, photographed in the Red Sea, near Egypt, on December 12, 2025.
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Ronen Tivony / NurPhoto / Getty
Cormorants, diving birds known for catching fish underwater, are seen at Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands in Boynton Beach, Florida.
A scuba diver swims near a moray eel.
Reinhard Dirscherl / Ullstein Bild / Getty
A scuba diver swims near a moray eel in the Red Sea, near Hurghada, Soma Bay, Egypt, in December of 2005.
A pod of white Beluga whales swim past, seen from above.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty
Beluga whales are observed during a Turkish Scientific Research expedition near Norway’s Svalbard Islands, in the Arctic Ocean, on July 23, 2022.
Dolphins swim near the shore of Istanbul, with buildings visible in the background.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty
Dolphins swim near the shore of Istanbul, Turkey, on June 9, 2026.
A purple nudibranch, with many flowing fronds, seen against dark water backdrop.
Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty
A purple nudibranch, photographed off the coast of Çeşme, near İzmir, Turkey, on October 25, 2025.
A turtle swims beneath the surface, with a sailboat’s masts visible in the background.
Alexis Rosenfeld / Getty
A turtle swims beneath the surface, with a sailboat’s masts visible in the background, near Toulon, France, on July 5, 2020.
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Original source:

https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/07/photos-richness-life-our-oceans/687918/?utm_source=feed