Plankton tow from under the Golden Gate Bridge

Dec 23, 2018 • 4:12 PM UTC

United States

140x Magnification

Microorganisms

RebeccaKonte

Scientific artist, using art as a tool for scientific storytelling. http://www.rebeccakonte.com/

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lol do you think I hit the bottom with all that sediment?
Here are some photos and videos of a plankton tow from under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California…

I noticed this pink blob– what I think is some sort of egg sack. It had interesting pressure-sensitivity. Untouched it’d be a fairly compact mass, but add any force (like a coverslip) and it’d expand into this really beautiful, spreading network.

Here’s a look at what appear to be the eggs shifting around under the pressure of the coverslip:

I also had some slides caked with ocean life from a previous trip to Monterrey. The slides were left to sit in the ocean for some time, allowing for all kinds passing organisms and matter to settle and build up on the glass.

I noticed a lot of these organisms/structures (above) on the slides, I am unsure of what they are, but they were numerous. Sometimes they were surrounded and invaded with buzzing little cells….