Marine Animals
Blue-lined octopuses inject paralysing venom to avoid becoming after-sex snack, study shows
For blue-lined octopus, mating is a dangerous game. That’s why males inject females with venom before sex, according to a new study.
When this deep-sea shark emerged from the shadows in the Caribbean Sea, it had an unexpected fright
The primitive shark species was filmed in the deep waters around the Cayman Islands in the western Caribbean Sea.
Researchers stuck a camera on a baby whale in Hawai'i – they were never expecting to see this
Tags often record things such as sound and temperature, but this one captured something surprising...
"Then along comes a predator” – but it couldn't have expected this
This blue-eyed ocean animal uses jet propulsion to move around the ocean – but is it enough to save this individual from a hungry predator?
Scientists just spent 16 months exploring Earth's oceans – what they found is breathtaking
The researchers discovered an astonishing 866 new marine creatures, including a species of guitar shark, a deep-sea limpet and an adorable pygmy pipehorse.
This tiny, deadly animal has venom so lethal it could kill a human within minutes – and there's no antidote
Discover all you need to know about one of the world's deadliest animals
‘Biggest clone on Earth’ discovered in the Baltic Sea
The enormous clone is more than 300 miles long – but researchers say its future is uncertain.
When scientists sent robots to the bottom of the Red Sea, hundreds of small lights emerged from the darkness
In the oxygen-depleted depressions of the deep seafloor, the ocean explorers were surprised to see large aggregations of lanternfish appear from the gloom.
Photographer stumbles across enormous 'smoking' animal in Indonesia's Banda Sea
The creature – which can grow almost two metres wide – was "like something from a sci fi movie," says photographer Aaron Sanders.
This fearsome ocean crawler slurps prey like a smoothie, breathes through its legs and can grow as big as a cat
Related to both spiders and crabs, sea spiders suck up the insides of their prey “like sipping through a straw” – they also store all their organs in their legs, say scientists.
'Pillar of intestines': entrancing video shows weird creature feeding like an "underwater sausage with hiccups"
These ocean 'aliens' can help researchers answer important questions about evolution.
There’s a bizarre animal in the deepest depths of the Pacific Ocean that looks like a toast rack – and it uses deadly hooks to kill its prey
Is this one of the strangest animals in the ocean?
A rare and ghostly shape just appeared in the Great Barrier Reef
It's only the second time the eerie-looking animal has been recorded in the region off the east coast of Australia.
Vampire in the shadows: see the chilling moment this deep-sea denizen 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.
Weirdest sea creatures - meet 15 strange ocean animals, including one that looks a bit like a toast rack
Have you heard of the Johnson's abyssal seadevil? Read about this strange ocean animal and more in our guide to the world's weirdest sea creatures
Incredible drone footage of narwhals in the Arctic reveals never-before-filmed behaviour
Researchers have recorded the Arctic's 'unicorn of the sea' using its tusk in an extraordinary way.
“I will always remember that day”: freediver films intimate encounter with pod of enormous whales
The clicks of the sperm whales were so loud, she felt like she was one of the pod.
Deadly is the female: 11 ferocious female animals that you wouldn't want to mess with
'For the female of the species is more deadly than the male' – here are our top 11 deadliest females that prove just that.
When scientists dropped a baited camera into Indonesian waters, a haunting predator appeared
The stealth predator was caught on camera just off Kri and Mansuar islands in Raja Ampat.
Calm in the Maldives: cruising shark gives hitchhiking suckerfish a lift in the Maldives
The nurse shark had over a dozen suckerfish jostling for a ride.
Diver films dramatic moment two giant cephalopods collide in South Australia
Reaching up to one metre in length and five kilograms in weight, these giants of the ocean aggregate in South Australian waters to mate, an event often wrought with danger.
300,000 tonnes of unexploded munitions were dumped in the Baltic Sea in the wake of Nazi Germany – now scientists are worried
The relic munitions, sunk to the bottom of the Baltic Sea at the end of the Second World War, are releasing potentially harmful toxic chemicals, say researchers.
Underwater camera records whale song "so powerful researchers could feel the vibrations through their feet”
Hear a humpback whale singing in Hawai’i – look closely and you’ll see the vocalist in the footage, too.
"At their destructive best" – astonishing footage shows orcas snatching sea lion puppy from the shoreline
These impressive apex predators launch
themselves from the surf in a spectacular hunting strategy known as 'intentional stranding'