and other ocean micro-worlds
Along the North Sea coast of Britain they have been getting smaller as the zooplankton that they eat decline, and the effects are being felt through the entire food web. Not plankton, but fond of plankton! Sandeels, known as sand lances in North America (family Ammodytidae), are slender, silvery fish that are a crucial food … Read more
Pershing and Stamieszkin (2019): “We define the North Atlantic biome as the region where the large, lipid-rich copepod Calanus finmarchicus is the dominant mesozooplankton species. … Most of the characteristic North Atlantic species, including cod, herring, and right whales, rely on C. finmarchicus either directly or indirectly.” Designed for “Changing Climate, Changing Stories” at the … Read more
Meganyctiphanes norvegica, the northern krill, folded from a 2 m square made by cutting down furniture padding. Designed for “Changing Climate, Changing Stories” at the Hunterian Museum.
Early Covid lockdown project. Modelled loosely on Marrus orthocanna. Modular, just like a real siphonophore!
As part of a COP26 Science Showcase called “Changing Climate, Changing Stories” at University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum, Neil folded the zooplankton typically eaten by a sandeel off the coast of Scotland at 50x magnification. The small copepods (representing Oithona, Acartia, Centropages spp.) are variants on the model diagrammed by Dasa Severova here. The large … Read more
Copepods are tiny crustaceans, 1-5 mm long, that are found everywhere from sunny tropical lagoons to the depths of the Arctic Ocean. They graze on microscopic, plant-like phytoplankton, as well as anything else they can find, including each other. In turn many fish, seabirds, and even whales rely on them as an energy-rich food. Design … Read more