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@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-09-06 13:45:55

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Many sessile marine organisms produce planktonic larvae for dispersal. This is true of the Bryozoa ("moss animals") in both freshwater and saltwater, which are often mistaken for sponges or corals. Larvae widely range in shape and lifestyle, but some larvae called cyphonautes can spend weeks feeding in the plankton. They are a distinctly flattened trian…

Side by side images of a distinctly triangular microscopic organism. On the left is a microscope image of a brown, mostly transparent bell shape with organelles inside and cilia around the edge (CC BY-SA 4.0). On the right is an anatomy diagram of the same organism with labels of: apical sense organ, ciliated ridge, inhalent chamber, and corona at the bottom. Taken from Hayward & Ryland (1998).
image/jpeg a clump of bright yellow-orange feathery balls are seen in an underwater photo on a reef. Bryozoans at Kreef Reef, Peter Southwood (CC SA 4.0)
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-07-05 13:30:45

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
While less discussed, there is a similar circulation to the AMOC in the #Antarctic called the Southern Meridional Overturning Circulation (SMOC). This is also vital to deep circulation, algal productivity, ecosystem function, and the global

image/jpeg scattered icebergs float in the ocean against a background of snow covered mountainous terrain. Antarctica, Christopher Michel CCA 2.0.
image/jpeg a diagram of deep ocean circulation in the southern ocean from Antarctica. Warm surface waters flow to the north, intermediate depth water flows south to the surface and the cold deep water forms at the surface in far south, sinks and flows along the ocean bottom to the north. from Pellichero et al, 2018. CCA 4.0.

Antarctica’s ocean flip: Satellites catch sudden salt surge melting ice from below
A massive and surprising change is unfolding around Antarctica. Scientists have discovered that the Southern Ocean is getting saltier, and sea ice is melting at record speed, enough to match the size of Greenland. This change has reversed a decades-long trend and is letting hidden heat rise to the surface, melting the ice from below. One of the most dramatic signs is the return of a giant hole in the ice that hadn’t been seen in 50 years. The consequences are global: stronger storms, warmer o…

@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-08-02 14:00:34

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Plankton have #parasites, just like any other organism, but in some cases, this leads to improved feeding conditions. #Daphnia zooplankton must often feed on freshwater cy…

image/jpeg microscope photo of long strands of brown-red algae with puffy globular growths on it. Planktothrix rubescens with chytrid infection. https://www.igb-berlin.de/en/project/integrating-fungal-parasites-plankton-ecology
image/jpeg microscope photograph of two transparent crustacean zooplankton with bright green guts are shown top and bottom. Photo of Daphnia dentifera from Meghan Duffy.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-06-28 13:30:27

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
More news about the potential collapse of an ocean current, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) which transfers heat from the tropics to northern Atlantic, giving Europe a much milder climate, controls plankton productivity, and importantly also generates deep ocean circulation by sinking cold dense water. Winter

image/jpeg Map of the Nordic Seas and subpolar basins with paths circulation of surface currents and deep currents (dashed) that form a portion of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Colors of curves indicate approximate temperatures being warmer further south. R. Curry, Wood's Hole Oceanographic Insitution CC BY 3.0.

Is a monster web of ocean currents headed for collapse? The race is on to find out
Research ships rarely brave the Greenland Sea in winter. Early this year, scientists ventured into the ice-covered waters to capture crucial data about the planet’s future.

@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-08-30 13:45:39

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
While algal #blooms are often associated with summer, they can occur in any season. SE #Australia is experiencing a prolonged bloom of Karenia mikimotoi (same genus as Flor…

image/jpeg two microscope images of a golden brown coloured algae cell on the left and a black and white SEM image on the right showing the distinct grooves, one lateral, on vertical where the flagella are located. Images from NOAA and WHOI.
image/jpeg photo of a person on a beach which has extensive piles of brownish white foam. Photo from ABC Caroline Horn. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-17/waitpinga-beach-foam-investigation/105060888
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-07-26 13:45:30

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
27 M tonnes. Dutch NIOZ scientists found that nanoplastics (<1 μm) are not only widespread, but equivalent to the mass of macro & microplastics! Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) #plastics don't just float on th…

image/jpeg scientists wearing hardhats retrieve a large sampler with 24 water sampling bottles arranged in a circle (rosette) off the side of a bright blue ship. Royal Netherlands Insitute for Sea Research (NIOZ) RV Pelagia during the 2023 DUST expedition.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-07-19 14:30:41

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
A new paper using expert interviews lays out ecosystem services provided by plankton. These range from economic provisioning of feed or oils, regulating nutrients and the #climate through the carbon pump, cultural and tourism, and oxygenation of the atmosphere. They al…

image/jpeg swirls of varied green colours stand out from the bright blue Atlantic Ocean in a satellite photo from along the eastern coast of Canada and USA. Source NASA and Lian Feng CC BY NC 2.0.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-08-23 14:00:45

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Last week, I mentioned a ciliate that can cause red tide #blooms. Mesodinium rubrum is an example of a unicellular organism that can both injest food and photosynthesize. Its main prey are cryptomonad

image/jpeg a graphic drawing of Mesodinium rubrum of a round organism with extended spines consuming a Geminigera cryophila cell that has two flagella. Text reads "Steals prey nucleus (kleptokaryon) and other organelles. Final diagram shows organelles inside the cell. From Johnson et al. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.027
image/jpeg a microscope photograph of an oblong orange - brown cell with distinctive radiating spines from the sides. Mesodinium rubrum from NOAA, public domain.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-06-14 14:00:49

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Mating by copepods is a complicated process since they are always at risk of predation by other plankton or fishes. Male #copepods carefully mechanically and chemically track a receptive female, capture them, and deposit an adhesive spermatophore near the genital open…

image/jpeg a microscope photograph of a shrimp-like male calanoid copepod with very long antennae with one having a distinct kink in it marked with a "ga" as a geniculate antenna. Source: An Image-Based Key To The Zooplankton Of North America Version 5.0.
image/jpeg two shrimp-like copepods are shown side by side, one female carrying paired egg sacs off the abdomen, and a slightly smaller male with distinctively hooked antennae. A scale bar indicates they are approximately 1 mm long. Cyclops bicuspidus, NOAA GLERL.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-06-21 13:30:54

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Did you know some #copepods can "porpoise" out of the water, even though they are only mm sized? The forces required for them to break the significant surface tension of the water is enormous, 10x larger than other animals scaled to size. This requires swim…

image/gif black and white movie of silhouettes of torpedo shaped animals jumping out of water often spinning several times in the air. Svetlichny L, Larsen PS, Kiørboe T (2018) Swim and fly. Escape strategy in neustonic and planktonic copepods. J Exp Biol, doi:10.1242/jeb.167262
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-08-09 14:01:00

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Did you know that plankton can get sunburn? UV radiation can affect microbes, #phytoplankton and #zooplankton by causing cellular molecular or genetic damage. Whil…

image/png a tiny crustacean with long extended antennae is dark orange with pigment in a microscope photograph. Photo: Hans Berggren in Hylander et al. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01976.x
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-08-16 14:01:54

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
When most people think about algal blooms, they envision bright green water. However, blooms can also be dark red, invoking the colour of blood. A number of groups can generate red pigment blooms including flagellates like red-tide species Karenia brevis and Heterosigma akashiwo, Alexandrium spp. (Shellfish poisoning), the green algae Botryococcus braunii turning…

image/jpeg bright red water the colour of blood washes against rocks. Photo of Sea of Galilee unattributed.
image/jpeg bright orange water collects along the rocky shore in front of an elevated pier in a rugged inlet. Photo from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
@DrPlanktonguy@ecoevo.social
2025-07-12 22:02:32

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
For a while, there has been concern for how the ocean's #ecosystem is being modeled. Too often it is oversimplified with #phytoplankon and

image/jpeg two views of the earth are shown side-by-side. Clouds, ocean, terrestrial land types are featured. From Reto Stöckli and Robert Simmon using MODIS and USGS satellite imagery. Public Domain.