The unknowns

It's a quiet Friday afternoon in the lab, and I'm back to working on my Arctic larval samples. I'm using molecular biological techniques to try and identify some of the unknowns to species. That way, I can tell who is reproducing in the polar night and whether new species of larvae are being brought into high Arctic fjords by upwelling in mid-winter. 

As a marine biologist, I'm used to dealing with unknowns. There are so many species - so many taxa - in the ocean that it's impossible for one person to know them all by sight. Most of the time, I can tell what family a specimen belongs to, and then it's just a matter of using reference materials to get to species. But every once in a while, there's a specimen that has me totally tripped up. Specimens that are very young or blob-like are particularly challenging. For some, I find myself asking "Is it even alive?" The world is full of crazy things.

That's where molecular biology comes in. Only living things have DNA, and I can use DNA sequences to try and identify my specimens to species. I spent a lot of time last year perfecting my methods for extracting DNA from larvae and even more time learning how to troubleshoot DNA replication techniques. After all that work, I'm finally able to apply the techniques myself and hopefully identify my specimens.

I'll post photos of some of the specimens I'm trying to identify below, so you can see for yourself. For some of them, it's easy to tell what they are (worm, snail, etc.), but for others, I have no clue. After several days of lab work, I'm ready to send off the DNA for sequencing. Hopefully I will have answers soon!

This is the larva of a polychaete (segmented worm), but I'm not sure what species yet. Photographed using a
dissecting microscope at 55x magnification.

This one I could get by eye - it's the snail Margarites helicinus.
Photographed at 55x.

I wasn't sure about this one at first, but after looking at some books, I think it might be a cerinula larva, which grows up to be a tubed anemone. Photographed at 55x.

I have no freaking clue (if you do, feel free to email me). Photographed at 55x.