COLDWATERS C I E N C EA journal of marine life
& ocean exploration
COLDWATER SCIENCE / ANIMAL FIELD GUIDES
Meet the sharks, whales, dolphins, turtles and smaller animals that make an ocean. Explore their food, habitats, adaptations and the questions scientists are still investigating.
60 animal articles · Scientific references · Credited cover images
60 articles · Page 3 of 3
Wildlife photographInvertebrates
Corals are animals built from solitary or colonial polyps, and some stony corals add calcium carbonate skeleton that forms reef framework. Shallow reef corals may host photosynthetic algae, while deep-water corals feed without sunlight-dependent partners.
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Gouache natural-history artSharks
Greenland shark age estimates come from radiocarbon measured in eye-lens cores, not observed birthdays or clear vertebral growth rings. The largest sampled female’s modeled estimate was 392 years, with a wide probability range that must remain part of the claim.
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Wildlife photographWhales
“Minke whale” covers two recognized species with different regional patterns, prey associations and habitats. Visible flipper markings can help distinguish forms, while lunge feeding, throat grooves and baleen explain how these relatively small rorquals capture prey.
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Wildlife photographDolphins and porpoises
Harbor porpoises are small members of the porpoise family, with a blunt face, compact body and small triangular dorsal fin. Teeth, sound-producing anatomy, habitat and surfacing behavior help explain their differences from dolphins, while each field clue has limits and a brief sighting can undercount animals.
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Wildlife photographRays and reef fish
Moray eels capture prey with oral jaws, then use unusually mobile pharyngeal jaws to grip and draw it toward the esophagus. Green morays add a crevice-hunting lifestyle, specialized gill ventilation and a distinctive mucus-influenced color.
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Wildlife photographSharks
Shortfin makos combine a streamlined body and regionally warmed swimming muscles with a diet of active pelagic prey. Their performance and fishing vulnerability require evidence tied to measurement methods and ocean regions, not a universal speed claim or worldwide stock conclusion.
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Wildlife photographWhales
Belugas combine an unusually mobile neck, a low dorsal ridge and a flexible forehead melon that shapes echolocation signals. Their color changes as calves mature, while habitat, movement and conservation status differ among populations.
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Wildlife photographRays and reef fish
Ocean sunfish have a blunt rear structure called a clavus in place of an ordinary tail fin, and tall dorsal and anal fins power their movement. Species identification needs anatomical detail: a surface fin or large size alone cannot distinguish Mola mola from its relatives.
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Wildlife photographSharks
Thresher sharks are recognized by an unusually long upper tail lobe. Evidence from common threshers describes a diet of schooling fish and squid, while filmed hunts of pelagic threshers show a staged tail strike that can stun several sardines. The species and limits of that observation matter.
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Pencil and watercolorWhales
A narwhal’s tusk is an unusual upper-jaw tooth, most often seen in males, but it is not a dependable sex test. Recent observations document fish-directed use while leaving the tusk’s full sensory, feeding, and social roles unresolved.
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Wildlife photographSharks
The Atlantic nurse shark is a coastal bottom-dweller with barbels, rounded dorsal fins and a mouth backed by a large pharynx. Suction helps draw varied prey into that small mouth. Daytime resting is common, but a resting shark remains a capable predator.
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Wildlife photographSharks
The blacktip reef shark (*Carcharhinus melanopterus*) is identified by a combination of fin markings, body color, snout shape and shallow tropical Indo-Pacific habitat. Because angle, turbidity and underwater color shifts can hide features, a distant fin alone rarely supports a confident identification.
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