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Sea Butterflies Take Flight

New York sculptor Cornelia Kavanagh and WHOI biologist Gareth Lawson are collaborating on a series of sculptures that highlight the fragile state of the pteropod, one of many ocean creatures threatened by increased ocean acidification. Pteropods, commonly known as sea butterflies, are zooplankton that have a shell, which makes them particularly susceptible to ocean acidification. Kavanagh’s aluminum sculptures represent how she envisions they will be affected by a changing ocean. “The Pteropod Project: Charismatic Microfauna” is expected to open in a Manhattan gallery in May 2012.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)