photography

Back in June, Emily alerted you to a fantastic exhibit at Smithonian's National Museum of Natural History. If you haven't had a chance to go, you should include Nature's Best Photography: Ocean Views on your late summer itinerary!

An amateur photographer caught photos of thousands of golden rays migrating off the coast of Mexico. Talk about right place, right time for Ms. Critelli. She must feel pretty, well, golden. Take a peek, it's well worth it.

[Image: Sandra Critelli via www.telegraph.co.uk]

If you live in DC, enjoy photography and/or the sea, the Museum of Natural History has an exhibit of some amazing ocean and marine life photos up through November. Even for the uber-busy among you, that should be plenty of time to check it out.

The small exhibit seems to be a teaser for the museum's 23,000 square-foot Ocean Hall , which is scheduled to open in September.

Thanks to Oceana science fellow Ben Freitas for the heads up.

Just two weeks into its maiden voyage, Oceana's new research vessel MarViva Med has started giving up the goods: rarely-seen images of bluefin fishing in progress.

Time is running out to save these creatures, which are big, sleek fish often considered the tigers of the sea. View an exclusive slideshow of MarViva photos showing bluefin fattening cages in the Mediterranean, and stay updated with blog entries from Oceana photographer Keith Ellenbogen.

MarViva Med joins Oceana's Ranger in documenting destructive and illegal fishing techniques. Its mission this summer focuses on bluefin tuna, one of the world's most overexploited fish species. The European Union has ignored the advice of its own scientists and continued to set quotas for Atlantic bluefin well above what the dwindling population can handle.

A right whale that attracted attention from a New England Aquarium researcher as it thrashed around in the water wasn't injured, as it first seemed: It was giving birth.

Now we have the first-ever photographs of a right whale calving. There are only about 400 of these critically endangered creatures left. Click here for a slideshow of this rare event.

[Photo courtesy NEAq/NMFS via Boston WCBV/TV]