Tag: phytoplankton

A species of zooplankton called Calanus finmarchicus floats in a sample jar in a laboratory at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute on Sept. 2, 2015. Credit: Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

Peeking into the Ocean’s Microscopic Baby Boom

5/8/2024 - By Kelly Fretwell and Adrienne Mason. The northeast Pacific Ocean is home to an astonishing array of marine creatures—spiky urchins, multiarmed sea stars, soft sea slugs the color of lemons, and barnacles with their heads glued to rocks. Strolling the seashore or diving below the ocean’s surface, we can see the adult… SEE MORE

James St. John, CC BY 2.0 ,Gulf_of_Mexico_view_from_Cayo_Costa_Island_Florida_USA_3_26236518672 via Wikimedia Commons

Feeding the Sea

1/20/2023 - By earthobservatory.nasa.gov Editor’s note: Phytoplankton fuel ocean life by feeding other plankton, fish, and ultimately bigger creatures. This video explores the diversity of phytoplankton in the oceans and shows why these plant-like organisms play such a crucial role in life on Earth. In some of the images, color-filtering techniques were… SEE MORE

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/bioluminescent-waves-crash-onto-encinitas-shoreline/2313955/

Natural Phenomenon Turns San Diego’s Waves Electric Blue

4/29/2020 - By Christina Bravo. As waves crashed against the shoreline in Encinitas on Monday, a bright blue hue overtook the ocean thanks to the return of an unpredictable natural phenomenon. The bright blue light, created by phytoplankton through a process called bioluminescence, can only be spotted from the shoreline on rare occasions… SEE MORE