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Smorgasbord from the Seafloor

May 5, 2018

Scientists collected these organisms from the bottom of the Bering Sea on a 2009 expedition. These polychaete worms and one mollusk (the light pink loop in the center) provide food for larger animals. The worms, along with other mud-dwelling seafloor animals such as clams, snails, worms, and crustaceans, in turn, get their food from phytoplankton that grow at the surface and in sea ice then decompose and drift down to the seafloor. WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian has led several expeditions to learn more about how climate change could be affecting Arctic ecosystems. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)