The Future of Squid

Casey Zakroff, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, adjusts plastic cups containing squid eggs in seawater with various pH levels. Working with his Ph.D. advisor, Aran Mooney, Zakroff is investigating how ocean acidification affects squid. His experiments over the last four years have found that squid embryos take longer to develop under lower pH levels and the hatchlings (called “paralarvae”) can be smaller. He is working to tease apart how baby squid’s response to stresses varies between individuals, parents, seasons, and years. He is also adding warming seawater temperature as an additional factor to gauge squid’s resilience to combined stressors. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)