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Title: 1 August 2007 Cocolithophorid Bloom, another view
Author: Jan Newton, Rita Horner; photo credit: Duane Fagergren
Category: bloom
Data Source: HCDOP IAM; Dr. Rita Horner taxonomic ID
File Size: 471 kb
File Type: Image (JPG or GIF)
Date Catalogued:
Monday, August 6, 2007
Observations of this unusual water color were made from Dabob Bay and northern Hood Canal during late July-early August 2007. Duane Fagergren (PSP) took this photograph from the air on 1 August. Net samples collected by UW Oceanographers in Dabob Bay on 3 August were examined by Dr. Rita Horner (UW). She confirmed the dominant organism was the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi. This coccolithophore is a photosynthetic organism in the algal class Prymnesiophyceae. A blue-green almost milky white color is associated with coccolithophorid blooms, due to the calcium carbonate plates that cover the cell. Coccolithophorid blooms can be quite large in area, easily seen by satellites. The species are typically oceanic (including coastal ocean) and not usually seen in bloom quantities in estuaries such as Puget Sound. Their presence in lower numbers has been observed in Puget Sound, previously. However, a similarly colored large bloom was seen in this same general N. Hood Canal area last year, during August 2006. Coccolithophores are not known to be toxic, but can affect food-web feeding dynamics.
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