In a special festive edition of Naked Oceans we count down the 12 critters of Christmas. Packed into our seasonal critter fest are sea angels and Christmas tree worms, cuddly marine mammals and less-cuddly deep sea fish. We'll meet an ocean migrant that could lend Father Christmas a helping hand and we'll venture into the deep sea to track down a fish that glows as brightly as Rudolf's nose.

We venture out into the big blue to check out the latest developments in Marine Protected Areas - or MPAs - those areas of the ocean set aside to let wildlife recover and thrive. Hot off the press, a new report launched in Nagoya tells us how many MPAs there are globally, where they are, and how much of the ocean they cover. Have we reached the 10% target yet? Plus we find out about a new generation of MPAs soon to appear around the UK coast and track down bottlenose dolphins and a gaggle of sea birds in a marine reserve off the Welsh coast.

In a special edition of Naked Oceans we celebrate the world's first Census of Marine Life as it draws to a climax this month after ten years of amazing ocean discoveries. Recorded at the Census conference at the Royal Institution in London on October 4th 2010, we meet many of the people behind the census, find out how the whole grand project got going, and pick out some of the census highlights. We also hear some musical inspiration from the census and chat with distinguished oceans explorer, Sylvia Earle.

This month we submerge ourselves in the science of tracking sharks. How do we follow them, where do they go, and what do they get up to when we're not watching? We catch up with Ecocean's Brad Norman to find out how he was inspired by the stars to help track the biggest fish in the seas. Mahmood Shivji from the Guy Harvey Research Institute tells us about how cutting edge genetic tools are helping to track the trade in sharks fins. And Boris Worm chooses our Critter of the Month.

Join us as we dive into the science of climate change in the oceans. What changes are we already seeing, what affects are they having on marine life, and what are the prospects for the future? We call in on the Arctic and the Antarctic to find out what's going on in some of the most vulnerable parts of the oceans, and we meet some extraordinary critters from the bottom of the sea at the bottom of the world.

To launch this brand new podcast series, Naked Oceans ventures beneath the waves to investigate the impacts of oil spills on the marine environment. We hunt down the hidden world of microbes in Louisiana wetlands, trace the fingerprint of oil in the open oceans, and discuss the likely fallout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And 14 years on, we meet some of the survivors of the Sea Empress Oil Spill in the Welsh coast. And we invite Carl Safina to choose our first Critter of the Month.