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Imaging a Hidden World

December 21, 2016

WHOI biologist Cabell Davis spearheaded the development of this instrument, called a Video Plankton Recorder, to capture images of the ocean’s multitudes of tiny, unseen life forms: plankton. From the Greek for “drifter,” plankton is a catchall term that includes bacteria and other microbes, single-celled plants, tiny animals, and larvae of larger species. Most marine animals are also plankton for part or all of their lives and form the base of the ocean’s food web. This photo was taken aboard the M/V Alucia on a 4,350-mile research cruise from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Balboa, Panama—the longest continuous VPR transit to date. (Photo by Phil Alatalo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)