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Enric Sala

A frogfish, disguised as its rocky seafloor perch, lays in wait for a potential meal. The fish can change texture and even color to blend with its surroundings. It can also lure potential prey with a fleshy “fishing rod,” complete with a wormlike lure.

A school of scalloped hammerhead sharks swim in blue ocean. The waters surrounding Cocos Island are a refuge for sharks often hunted for their fins.

The bigeye catalufa grows to 11 inches long and inhabits deep, rocky reefs off Cocos Island.

Gay wrasses approach the camera during a Pristine Seas expedition in the Desventuradas Islands.

A South American sea lion swims off Isla de los Estados, in the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego. The Pristine Seas project, spearheaded by the National Geographic Society, aims to protect one third of the world’s ocean. (From “Inside the ambitious push to protect a third of the world’s ocean,” September 2020.)

Blacktip reef sharks swim near Kirabati in the Pacific Ocean.

In Argentina's remote Tierra del Fuego, the giant kelp forests of Thetis Bay harbor one of the most magnificent marine ecosystems on the planet. The future is bright for the abundance of life that calls the habitat home, thanks to the recent creation of the Yaganes Marine Protected Area by the Argentine government.

Jellyfish float among the fronds of a kelp forest off Isla de los Estados, Argentina. Giant kelps (Macrocystis pyrifera) are the largest algae in the ocean, growing upward to more than 150 feet. Their forests harbour one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.

In Palau's biodiverse waters, scientists find life is thriving under the seas. Here, a tiny goby camouflages with a branch of red coral.

South American fur seals glide by National Geographic Pristine Seas divers in the waters of Yaganes off the southern coast of Argentina.