Foldscope at the beach in Hawaii

May 24, 2015 • 7:21 PM UTC

Haleiwa, HI, USA

140x Magnification

Microorganisms

Tom Hata

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Sea turtles at Laniakea Beach, Hawaii
As a marine biologist on vacation, the first place I wanted to try out my new Foldscope was of course at the beach! While most visitors at Laniakea Beach are enthralled by the sea turtles that come to shore, I noticed that the shore had a peculiar structure.

Laniakea Beach, Hawaii
The wave-swept portion of this otherwise sandy beach was exposed bedrock. I noticed that there were primarily 3 types of algae covering these rocks: a filamentous green, a filamentous brown, and a leafy green.

Collected at Laniakea beach
Wanting to see if field photos at the beach were possible using the Foldscope, I collected a handful. Thanks to the fact that many intertidal algae are only a few cell layers thick at most, I was able to mount samples without having to cut thin sections.

Filamentous algae taken at beach with a Foldscope
Pictured above is the filamentous green. The greatest challenge was maintaining focus on the specimen through blustering trade winds, but results were promising! I think a glass microscope slide would have greatly helped with the wet specimens, but fortunately algal samples tend to adhere to the adhesive plastic Foldscope slides as they dry out. Next, I’d love to collect water samples to find microscopic fauna.