Today, National Geographic underwater photographer and New England Aquarium Explorer-in-Residence Brian Skerry dove in for a closer look at Aquarium’s new Giant Ocean Tank, with camera in hand. The Uxbridge, Mass., resident has circled the globe as an award-winning underwater photographer and author for National Geographic. He's chronicled the lives of harp seals, Southern right whales, sharks, blue fin tuna and scores of other marine life in their natural habitats, which often face persistent threats from pollution, climate change and other hazards. He has spent more than 10,000 hours underwater and has an admirable ability to distill significant environmental messages in a single image.

Today, Skerry logged another hour underwater inside the Aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank. Skerry serves as the Aquarium's Explorer-in-Residence since he has such a unique window on our aquatic world.

Working for over 15 years at the magazine, Skerry has produced more than 20 lead articles with mesmerizing images of vast seascapes and poignant glimpses of fish swimming inside abandoned soda cans or heart-breaking moments with whales, sharks and dolphins, snarled in nets that threaten their lives.

A shark photographed by Brian Skerry

After a 10-month, $17.3 million top-to-bottom transformation of the Giant Ocean Tank, the Aquarium is now home to more than 2,000 aquatic animals from 140 different species, making it one of the most bio-diverse in the world. Since Skerry is an accomplished traveler who has seen coral reefs all over the world from the pristine to the damaged, he will brought unique perspective into the tank, where he observed and photographed with his underwater gear the coral reef, which re-opened on July 1.

See more of Brian Skerry's images beautiful images on the Aquarium's Global Explorers Blog. 

Get your tickets to see Myrtle through the windows of the Giant Ocean Tank! Timed tickets are easy to buy online and print out at home.