Image

Squid Nursery

October 22, 2014

The ocean is absorbing rising levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and becoming more acidic. How will that affect squid, a key animal in the marine food web? WHOI biologist Aran Mooney and colleagues in his lab are investigating that question. Here, research assistant Andrea Schlunk works with flow-through cups containing squid eggs. Different concentrations of carbon dioxide bubble into the cups, ranging from 400 ppm (today’s levels) to an extreme level, 2200 ppm. The scientists are finding that a critical organ in squid starts to degrade even at levels of 600 to 800 ppm, which are expected in the next 30 to 50 years. (Video still by Daniel Cojanu, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)