Opulent Oceans

Some 400 years ago, European scientists began traveling the globe, and what they saw on these voyages expanded the Western world's knowledge of ocean life as never before.To create the images on display in this gallery, some naturalists sketched their own specimens, and others collaborated with artists and engravers. The result: illustrations that communicate the anatomy, life cycles, habits—and sheer beauty—of newfound marine species. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. Antarctic octopus Engraver Fritz Winter prepared this illustration of an Antarctic octopus for publication in German zoologist Cark Chun's Aus den Tiefen des Weltmeeres: Schilderungen von der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition (From the depths of the world’s oceans: description of the German Deep-Sea Expedition). Roderick Mickens/© AMNH Tropical Wrasses These vibrantly colored tropical wrasses of the genus Halichoeres were illustrated by noted American ichthyologist David Starr Jordon for The fishes of Samoa (1906).Roderick Mickens/© AMNH The illustrations in this exhibition, and many more, appear in the book Opulent Oceans: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library, by Melanie J. Stiassny, Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology, Division of Vertebrate Zoology. The exhibition is on view in the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, within the Museum’s Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, and is included with all admission.