A pteropod, Limacina retroversa. These are tiny planktonic snails which live in the water column feeding on even samllerzooplankton such as forams. Image about 5mm high. @ Vicky Peck
A surprising addition to our catch were fragments of volcanic debris such as glass and pumice. Fresh volcanic ash is super-fertile and may account for the high productivity we observed at this station, however, since there have been no recent eruptions likely to have deposited fresh ash in this region, we assume that this ash has been knocking around for quite a while and has probably lost much of its potency.
Today, the bucket was bare! Although a peppering of volcanic ash accompanied our catch, there were only a couple of foraminifera and not a single pteropod.
The hunt continues …
Planktonic forams, mostly Neogloboquadrina pachyderma.
These are single-celled animals a bit like amoebas, but with a calcareous shell. Image about 0.5mm wide. @ Vicky Peck
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