In the plankton

As many of you know, I absolutely adore analyzing plankton samples. The tiny organisms that live in the water column are in my mind some of the most gorgeous on earth. I collect plankton samples regularly as part of my research, because I’m constantly trying to capture the larvae of benthic invertebrates – the swimming caterpillar to the seafloor butterfly. This trip, I did not find any coral larvae like I was hoping to, but my samples contained plenty of other fascinating larvae. Check out some of my favorites below. 

A megalopa, a larval crab.

An ophiopluteus. This guy grows up to be a brittle star.

A nectochaete, a larval worm.

This guy looks like some sort of trochophore. Not sure what he's going to grow up to be - 
lots of taxa have trochophore larvae.

The white balance is totally off in this picture, but I increased the contrast so you could see the clear parts. This is a larval snail, and he's swimming around my dish with his wing-like velum. You can even see the eyespots!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is the larva of an inarticulate brachiopod. They look like clams, but they're actually totally unrelated and feed in a different way. Cool!

Flatworm!

This is the single most beautiful sponge larva I have ever seen.