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Any cysts in the there?

Postdoctoral fellow Luciano Fernandes of the WHOI Biology Department handles a mud sample plucked from the Gulf of Maine during an October 2007 cruise on the research vessel Oceanus. As part of the five-year Gulf of Maine toxicity experiment (GOMTOX), researchers from WHOI and several other institutions are observing and modeling the patterns and mechanisms that lead to blooms of Alexandrium fundyense, a harmful form of algae that can sicken humans who eat tainted shellfish. The sediment samples allow researchers to assess how many seeds, or cysts, are residing in the mud for potential blooms in the following year. (Photo by Alexander Dorsk, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)