Alert Diver Category: Parting Shot

Smalltooth sawfish are critically endangered, making them exceedingly rare to encounter on dives in Florida. Some scientists believe sawfish face the greatest extinction risk of any family of marine animals.

A few white southern right whales are born each year, but this leucistic trait is not a permanent feature. Their coloration usually gives way to a lighter gray in adulthood, indicating they were white at birth and distinguishing them from the more common darker whales.

These small yet magnificent mollusks live in the open ocean and are at the mercy of wind, tide, and currents. As they float upside down just beneath the surface, their blue-striped bellies point upward while their metallic backs are counter-shaded when seen from below.

The common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) is anything but. Found only in Australia’s temperate coastal waters, this spectacular seahorse relative — also called the weedy seadragon — grows up to 18 inches long and is painted beautiful colors and whimsically festooned with teardrop-shaped skin flaps.