Ctenophore or comb jellyfish feeding.

Ctenophore off New England with long ciliated tentacles.

Lobate ctenophores are translucent and give off a bioluminescent glow. Bolinopsis infundibulum.

Physonect siphonophores are actually colonies of specialized polyps.

Siphonophores are floating cousins to hydroids common on rocks and piers.

Physonect siphonophores are chains of polyps with different functions. Nanomia cara.

Close-up of the tail end of a squid, important prey for commercial fish.

Jellyfish floating under Arctic ice.

A cirrate octopus floats like a bell in mid-water, feeding on plankton.

Jellyfish and their plankton prey concentrate along invisible water boundaries.

Physonect siphonophore is actually a chain of colonial hydroids.

Jellyfish come in many forms, many too fragile to capture in nets.

Some jellyfish pulsate to propel themselves through the water.

Cyanea jellyfish are common on the New England coast in summer.

Crushed lobster left in the path of a scallop drag. Homarus americanus.

Galatheid crabs are common burrow-dwellers on the continental slope. Munida iris.

Octopus live in all oceans, including the muddy deep sea floor.

A dense bed of brittle stars can get their food from the water or bottom. Ophiura sarsii.

Soft corals, crinoids and sea pens need a hard spot for attachment.

Delicate crinoid can orient towards the current to increase food capture.

Sea anemones clustered on a rocky slope off Hawaii.

Feather duster worms, a type of annelid worm, and more specifically, tube- dwelling polychaete worms. The "arms" are actually tentacles or "radioles" at the anterior end of the worm. Most of the worms' bodies are hidden within the tubes they have constructed.

Lobster tangled in a gillnet intended to capture cod and other groundfish. Homarus americanus.

Sea anemones festoon a rocky outcrop off Alaska.

Lobster works a pit in a shell bed. Homarus americanus.

Portunid crab cowering at the base of a cerianthid anemone. Cerianthus borealis (anemone).

Colorful fireworm projecting from a coral head has a sting if touched.

Seastar doen't know what hit it -- arm of a NURP submersible.

Hermit crabs are very particular about their shell homes.

This sea snake is actually a vertebrate and in the wrong place in collection.

Spiny lobster, unlike its northern relative, has no big crusher claw. Panulirus argus

Junvenile lobster use weeds and sponges as refuge.

Golden crabs are the largest crustacean on the continental slope off Florida.

Starfish don't just have five arms-- this sun star has a dozen.

The lobster's large claw can crush crabs, clams and fingers. Homarus americanus.

Cleaner shrimp are distinguished from other shrimp by their long antennae.

Sub arm reaches for a soft coral.

Soft coral species are found in both cold deep and shallow warm waters.

Small sea anemone on volcanic rock off Hawaii.

Sea star on volcanic rock off Hawaii.

Anemone on a fist-sized volcanic rock off Hawaii.

American lobsters live from the rocky coast to the canyons off New England. Homarus americanus.

Spider crab speaks slowly to a soft coral.

Gold coral is found below 300 m in tropical oceans. Gerardia sp.

Cerianthid anemones are common on the continental slope in the north Atlantic. Cerianthus borealis.

Branching coral poking up through sands off the Bahamas.

Close-up of a Serpulid worm's crown taken through the window of Hydrolab.

Pederson cleaning shrimp on a reef in the Virgin Islands.

Sponge on a deep reef in the British Honduras.

Rock lobster on a Pacific reef.