Photo Gallery: Underwater Creatures

In an apparent moment of solitude and safety, a Galápagos penguin forages in the waters off the South American islands. But danger abounds for this small creature, whose population has been reduced to less than a thousand breeding pairs throughout the archipelago. Predators such as sharks and hawks kill the penguins. Temperature-driven food shortages starve adults. And human hazards—habitat disturbance and destruction, discarded waste from tourists and fishermen, and dangerous fishing nets—are pushing the creatures closer to extinction.