WHOI microbiologist Rebecca Gast, one of the survey's lead scientists, is now finding the disease-causing freshwater intestinal parasitic microbes Cryptosporidium and Giardia in seawater, as well as in many of the surveyed marine animals. Gast speculated that these organisms might indicate pollution levels in the ocean, since they can be carried to the sea in sewage.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, WHOI)[back]
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