The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is a semiaquatic mammal that lives along its waterways and coasts. It is the only river otter that is found north of Mexico. These animals live in burrows and like most predators, prey upon the most...
The Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) is a near-threatened species of sea lion in the northern Pacific. It is the sole member of the genus Eumetopias and the largest of the eared seals (Otariidae). Among pinnipeds, it is inferior in size only to...
The mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. Also widely called dorado (not to be confused with Salminus brasiliensis, a...
The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus Galeocerdo and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, with females capable of attaining a length of over 5 m (16 ft 5 in)....
The common dolphin (Delphinus delphis ) is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with that...
The California mussel (Mytilus californianus ) is a large edible mussel, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Mytilidae.This species is native to the west coast of North America, occurring from northern Mexico to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska....
The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), also known as the lizard shark, is one of the two extant species of shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae (the other is the southern African frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus africana)). The frilled...
The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is a rare species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a "living fossil", it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. This pink-skinned animal has a...
The California sea hare (Aplysia californica ) is a species of sea slug in the sea hare family, Aplysiidae. It is found in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California in the United States and northwestern Mexico.
The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are found in...
The milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. However, there are at least five extinct genera from the Cretaceous.The repeating scientific name (tautonym) is from Greek khanos (χάνος ‘mouth’).The species has many...
The sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) is one of two members of the fish family Anoplopomatidae and the only species in the genus Anoplopoma. In English, common names for it include sable (US), butterfish (US), black cod (US, UK, Canada), blue cod (UK),...
Magnapinna pacifica is a species of bigfin squid known only from three immature specimens; two caught at a depth of less than 300 m and one from a fish stomach. M. pacifica is the type species of the genus Magnapinna. It is characterised primarily...
The striped bass (Morone saxatilis), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has also been...
The salmon shark (Lamna ditropis) is a species of mackerel shark found in the northern Pacific ocean. As an apex predator, the salmon shark feeds on salmon, squid, sablefish, and herring. It is known for its ability to maintain stomach temperature...
The leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata) is a species of houndshark, in the family Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically measuring 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long,...
Perrin's beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini ) is part of the toothed whale suborder and is one of over 90 known cetaceans in existence today. Beaked whales are part of the family Ziphiidae, which are the second most diverse group out of all marine...
The devil fish or giant devil ray (Mobula mobular) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae. It is currently listed as endangered, mostly due to bycatch mortality in unrelated fisheries.
The American shad (Alosa sapidissima) is a species of anadromous clupeid fish naturally distributed on the North American coast of the North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Florida, and as an introduced species on the North Pacific coast. The...
The scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) is a species of hammerhead shark in the family Sphyrnidae. It was originally known as Zygaena lewini. The Greek word sphyrna translates into "hammer" in English, referring to the shape of this shark's head,...
Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab. It is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab, or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name European green...
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae of the order Acipenseriformes. They are an anadromous (migratory) fish species ranging in the Eastern Pacific; from the Gulf of Alaska to Monterey,...
The signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the North European Astacus astacus fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, but the imports...
The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a fish native to most inland and coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its range,...
Sharks portalThe horn shark (Heterodontus francisci) is a species of bullhead shark, in the family Heterodontidae. It is endemic to the coastal waters off the western coast of North America, from California to the Gulf of California. Young sharks...
The round stingray (Urobatis halleri) or Haller's round ray and Little round stingray is a species of round ray, family Urotrygonidae, found in the coastal waters of the tropical and subtropical parts of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It is a...
The spotted ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) is a chimaera found in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. Often seen by divers at night in the Pacific Northwest, this cartilaginous fish gets its characteristic name from a pointed rat-like tail. The ratfish...
The giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) is a fish native to the North Pacific Ocean. Although commonly referred to as a giant sea bass, black sea bass or giant black sea bass, it is actually a wreckfish in the family Polyprionidae rather than in the...
The California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) is a species of spiny lobster found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It typically grows to a length of 30 cm (12 in) and is a...
The Pacific sea nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens), or West Coast sea nettle, is a widespread planktonic scyphozoan cnidarian—or medusa, “jellyfish” or “jelly”—that lives in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, in temperate to cooler waters off of British...
Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jelly, is the only species in the monotypic genus of deep sea jellyfish, Stygiomedusa. It is in the Ulmaridae family. With only around 110 sightings in 110 years, it is a jellyfish that is...
The California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) is a species of wrasse native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range is from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of California, Mexico. It can live for up to 20 years in favorable conditions and...
The bat ray (Myliobatis californica) is an eagle ray found in muddy or sandy sloughs, estuaries and bays, kelp beds and rocky-bottomed shoreline in the eastern Pacific Ocean, between the Oregon coast and the Gulf of California. It is also found in...
Phyllorhiza punctata is a species of jellyfish, also known as the floating bell, Australian spotted jellyfish, brown jellyfish or the white-spotted jellyfish. It is native to the western Pacific from Australia to Japan, but has been introduced...
The Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is a species of the herring family associated with the Pacific Ocean environment of North America and northeast Asia. It is a silvery fish with unspined fins and a deeply forked caudal fin. The distribution is...
The white-spotted puffer fish (Arothron hispidus) is a medium to large-sized puffer fish, it can reach 50 cm length. It is light grey in color, or greyish or yellowish, and clearly covered with more or less regular white points, that become...
The Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) is a common species of the Squalidae (dogfish) family of sharks and are among the most abundant species of sharks in the world. This species is closely related to Squalus acanthias and for many years they...
The black sea nettle (Chrysaora achlyos), sometimes informally known as the black jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish that can be found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean off North America. Its range is thought to be from Monterey Bay in the north,...
The shovelnose guitarfish, Pseudobatos productus, is a ray in the family Rhinobatidae.It becomes mature at an estimated seven to eight years old. Males are between 90–100 cm (35–39 in) long, while females are around 99 cm (39 in) at that age. The...
The triplewart seadevil (Cryptopsaras couesii) is a sea devil of the family Ceratiidae and the order Lophoiiformes. This species is the only member of its genus. Noted for its extreme sexual dimorphism, the triplewart seadevil's length ranges from...
Chondrocladia lyra, also known as the lyre sponge or harp sponge, is a species of carnivorous deep-sea sponge first discovered off the Californian coast living at depths of 10,800–11,500 feet (3,300–3,500 m) by Welton L. Lee, Henry M Reiswig,...
The smalltooth sand tiger or bumpytail ragged-tooth (Odontaspis ferox) is a species of mackerel shark in the family Odontaspididae, with a patchy but worldwide distribution in tropical and warm temperate waters. They usually inhabit deepwater rocky...
