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Butterflies of the Ocean

December 11, 2018

These marine snails are also called “sea butterflies” because of their winglike swimming appendages. Masses of pteropods drift with currents in the open ocean, where they provide food for fish and whales. Like garden snails, their earthbound relatives, pteropods build calcium carbonate shells. But pteropods’ thin, fragile shells may be vulnerable to the ocean’s changing chemistry. WHOI scientists have been investigating how these beautiful creatures and key links in the food chain will be affected by ocean acidification, comparing pteropods in ocean regions with normal acidity and regions already showing acidification. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Copley, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)