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Stand Outs

Stained with primulin dye and viewed under a microscope (magnfied 100X), cysts of the harmful algae Alexandrium fundyense and its less dangerous cousin Alexandrium tamarense stand out in yellow and bright green from organic matter and sediments collected from the Gulf of Maine. According to a seafloor survey conducted in the fall of 2007 by researchers from Don Anderson’s lab, the number of Alexandrium cysts—the dormant, seed-like stage of the algae’s life-cycle—is more than 30 percent higher this season than what was observed in the sediments prior to the historic red tide of 2005. (Photo by Kerry Norton, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)