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Getting Their Feet Wet

Summer Student Fellows Victoria Garefino (left) and Cynthia Becker (center) collect killifish for their research in Scorton Creek on Cape Cod with WHOI biologist Neel Aluru. These small, abundant fish live in coastal streams and salt marshes—in both clean habitats, like Scorton Creek, and heavily polluted ones. Aluru (Garefino’s sponsor) and his colleagues Mark Hahn and John Stegeman (Becker’s sponsors) compare the genes of fish from clean and polluted environments to study how killifish adapt genetically to long-term exposure to dioxins and PCBs. Their work is part of a larger project studying the impact of Superfund sites on the environment and human health. (Photo by Matthew Barton, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)