The ocean is one of the greatest mysteries on the planet. Beneath its wavy blue surface, there's a colorful world that is home to roughly 200,000 unique and bizarrely beautiful species. In total, the ocean covers roughly 71% of the Earth's surface, but humans have only explored about 20% of it, leading scientists to believe that there are probably close to two million unidentified creatures lurking in the unexplored depths of the sea. Although so much is unknown about the ocean, one thing is for certain: its jaw-dropping beauty. No need to travel to the aquarium, because we've got some spectacular underwater images right here.
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The semi-translucent pelagia noctiluca jellyfish floats near the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.
A camera-shy clownfish hides in blue sea anemone, where it typically hides from predators.
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The brightly colored Orange Cup Coral (which belongs to the Dendrophylliidae family) doesn't depend on sunlight, so it can live in the deep sea or caves.
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A beam of sunlight illuminates a shoal of fish swimming in a sea cave.
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The bottlenosed dolphin can jump 15-30 feet above the surface of the water. As seen here, a pair of bottlenosed dolphins catch some air during sunset in the Caribbean sea.
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A leafy sea dragon swims near the shallow sea bottom off the coast of South Australia. They have no known predators, as their leafy camouflage makes them an undesirable meal.
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A sea turtle swims through an active coral reef. Believe it or not, coral reefs are the largest biological structures on the planet.
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The miniature-sized blue-ringed octopus crawls along the seabed near the coast of the Philippines.
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A shoal of fish clear a path for a baby reef shark.
A shoal of bluestripe snapper fish travel neatly in a line formation.
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The bougainvillia superciliaris serves as a deep-sea light bulb.
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The pink-colored soft corals that grow on cannibal rock look like undersea trees.
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Tropical fish swim near the surface of crystal clear, blue water. It's believed that the Maldives, Bahamas, and Greece possess some of the bluest seawater in the world.
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Neon fish congregate near a coral rock off the coast of Maui, Hawaii.
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As you can see by this close-up, the sperm whale is the largest toothed predator in the sea.
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A lion's mane jellyfish, also known as a hair jelly (for obvious reasons), swims in the frigid ocean off the coast of Alaska.