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Nearing the End

WHOI researcher Bruce Keafer demonstrated the procedure for filtering water samples for Alexandrium fundyense before a cruise on the R/V Oceanus in 2008. In New England waters, A. fundyense is responsible for the “red tides” or Harmful Algal Blooms that can sicken humans, whales, and other organisms that eat seafood exposed to the toxic algae. On October 24, 2011 Keafer, principal investigators Don Anderson, Dennis McGillicuddy, and colleagues headed out on the R/V Oceanus to collect A. fundyense cysts at 125 sampling stations from Massachusetts Bay to the Bay of Fundy. Their cruise is the 477^th and next-to-last in the long, storied career of Oceanus. The ship is being retired from scientific service in November. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)