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Explain the Reef!

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  • What are Copepods? Essential to the Web of Life

     What are Copepods? They’re tiny, ungainly crustaceans. Often barely visible to us, they aren’t on anyone’s must see list. But

  • Fire Corals: Sneaky, Painful & Masters of Disguise

    What are fire corals? Well, they’re not true corals, although their talent for stinging certainly lives up to the fire

  • Benthic & Pelagic Fishes: Defining Oceanic Lifestyles

    Describing pelagic fishes is easy: They swim, feed and just hang out in the open ocean, a pretty consistent pattern

  • Why Are Flounders Flat? Because it Works.

    Flounders are famously fishes that start out with typical-fish body shapes and morph into bottom-dwelling flatfishes that live sideways, with

  • How Do Flying Fishes “Fly?” Well, Actually, They Glide.

    Why do flying fishes fly? To escape predators, to flee from surprises like boat engines next them, perhaps to entertain

  • Do Sea Urchins Sting? No, But They Hurt All the Same

    What are sea urchins? Members of Class Echinoidea, they’re distant cousins of starfishes that boast imposing defenses and bad reputations.

FRONT PAGE – LATEST FEATURES

What are Copepods? Essential to the Web of Life

November 5, 2020

Fire Corals: Sneaky, Painful & Masters of Disguise

October 19, 2020

Benthic & Pelagic Fishes: Defining Oceanic Lifestyles

August 1, 2020

Why Are Flounders Flat? Because it Works.

June 27, 2020

How Do Flying Fishes “Fly?” Well, Actually, They Glide.

June 6, 2020

Do Sea Urchins Sting? No, But They Hurt All the Same

May 23, 2020

SPOTLIGHT – TRENDING NEWS & RESEARCH

Sea Turtles Fake Out Predators with Decoy Turtle Nests

May 20, 2020 neptune3

When leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles finish laying their eggs in newly dug nests on

Read more

Stunning Images, Diverse Entries in UPY2020

February 29, 2020

Effective Shark Finning Bans Advancing – Hopefully

December 14, 2019

First the Study! Now the Movie! Great Whites Run Away!

December 1, 2019

HIGHLIGHTS – FEATURES FROM THE ARCHIVES

Seeing Sea Anemones – for Themselves

August 2, 2019

Sea Pigs: Amazing Sea Cukes You’ll Never See

July 6, 2019

Black Coral: Many Colors – But Rarely Black

June 15, 2019

Balloonfish & Porcupinefish: Big Eyes, Mona Lisa Smile

June 5, 2019

Stony, Soft or Gorgonian, They’re All Coral Polyps

June 1, 2019

Iguanas in the Galapagos: Here Come the Marines

May 17, 2019

WHO’S WHO – BONY FISHES

Why Are Flounders Flat? Because it Works.

June 27, 2020 neptune3

Flounders are famously fishes that start out with typical-fish body shapes and morph into bottom-dwelling

Read more

How Do Flying Fishes “Fly?” Well, Actually, They Glide.

June 6, 2020

Seahorse Anatomy: Differences Way Beyond “Cute”

January 1, 2020

Sharksuckers: Not Just for Sharks! And They Don’t Suck

September 21, 2019

WHO’S WHO – SHARKS & RAYS

Meet the “Walking Sharks:” They Amble on Land, Too.

January 26, 2020

Meet the American Pocket Shark. It Glows. Maybe

July 27, 2019

Manta Rays: Gentle Giants Explained

October 22, 2018

Whale Shark Size And Age: Long Live Whale Sharks!

July 28, 2018

Yellow Stingrays – Where’s Waldo?

April 26, 2018

Grass-Eating Sharks. Really.

January 17, 2018

WHO’S WHO – CORALS & GORGONIANS

True Soft Corals: Beautiful, with an Identity Problem

January 12, 2020 neptune3-ca

True soft corals are among the most beautiful gems of the reef, yet they’re difficult

Read more

Bubble Coral: Soft On Top, Stony Underneath

September 28, 2019

Black Coral: Many Colors – But Rarely Black

June 15, 2019

Stony, Soft or Gorgonian, They’re All Coral Polyps

June 1, 2019

Sea Fans, Rods & Plumes: Thinking Outside the Calyx

May 4, 2019

WHO’S WHO – INVERTEBRATES

What are Copepods? Essential to the Web of Life

November 5, 2020

Fire Corals: Sneaky, Painful & Masters of Disguise

October 19, 2020

Do Sea Urchins Sting? No, But They Hurt All the Same

May 23, 2020

Akin to Brittlestars, Basket Stars Network in the Dark

May 2, 2020

Stars of Doom: Crown of Thorns Starfishes

April 19, 2020

All Arms, All the Time: Feather Star Facts

April 11, 2020

WHO’S WHO – MARINE MAMMALS, REPTILES & BIRDS

Iguanas in the Galapagos: Here Come the Marines

May 17, 2019

Snakes on the Reef! They Won’t Bother You. Probably.

April 8, 2019

Haunting Video of a Stray Narwhal Adopted by Belugas

October 9, 2018

In The Galapagos, Penguin Gender Can Be Told by Beak Size

July 12, 2018

Baleen Whales Are Just the Size they Ought to Be

April 23, 2018

The Penguin Selfie: Better Than Yours

March 29, 2018

SEARCH THIS SITE

THE PHOTO

Stars of Doom: Crown of Thorns Starfishes

April 19, 2020

THE WORD

Benthic & Pelagic Fishes: Defining Oceanic Lifestyles

August 1, 2020

Fevers, Shivers & Risks: Marine Animal Group Names

March 22, 2020

Osteichthyes vs. Chondrichthyes, Bony vs. Cartilaginous

July 10, 2019

FUNKY

Sea Turtles Fake Out Predators with Decoy Turtle Nests

May 20, 2020

Seeking Fish, Patrolling Albatrosses Join the Cops

February 1, 2020

Marine Life Stamps: When Snail Mail Is Really Fishy

October 26, 2019

ORIGINS

Stromatolites – The First Reefs, Living Fossils

May 11, 2019

Geohistory and the Triangle of Diversity

August 5, 2018

The Specifics of Species – By the Numbers

May 4, 2018

Sea Snakes: Pacific 70, Atlantic 0

December 17, 2017

POSEIDON MEDIA

Video Sidebar: Fish Bottomfeeding Strategies

November 16, 2019

 Diving with Manta Rays: Atlantic Giant Manta Encounter

October 22, 2018

Bluehead Wrasses – The Great Damselfish Egg-Raid

October 21, 2018

EXPLAIN THE REEF!

JUST GOING UNDERWATER AND LOOKING AT STUFF IS NOT THE SAME as Understanding the Reef! Poseidon’s Web works to explain Who’s Who, What’s What…and Why!

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EXPLAINERS

Seahorse Anatomy: Differences Way Beyond “Cute”

January 1, 2020

How Fish Breathe: Ram Ventilation, Buccal Pumping

September 14, 2019

The Lionfish Enigma: Atlantic Threat But Not Pacific

July 13, 2019

Octopuses & Squids: Support Your Local Cephalopod

June 23, 2019

Stomach-Everting, Arm-Regenerating Starfish Explained

January 15, 2019

Barnacles: Sticky Crustaceans Explained

December 23, 2018

Nudibranchs: Fantastic Mollusks Explained

November 17, 2018

Manta Rays: Gentle Giants Explained

October 22, 2018

PLACES

Bonaire 2018: Old Standbys, “New” Sites. Who Knew?

January 28, 2018

The Philippines: In the Triangle

July 4, 2017

Bimini Chain: Sharks! Turtles! Conchs!

June 26, 2017

REEF DYNAMICS

What are Copepods? Essential to the Web of Life

November 5, 2020

Woodsy Perhaps, But Mangrove Forests are Essential Parts of the Reef

August 9, 2019

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