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Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.

Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.
Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.
Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.
Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.
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396921
Copley, Nancy
Pteropod, sea butterfly, marine snail.
Still Image
08/12/2012
2012_08_12_2351_Copley.jpg
Caption from Oceanus magazine, vol. 50, no. 2, page 77:
Tiny. Ubiquitous. Vital. Delicate. Vulnerable. All these words describe pteropods ("wing-foot"). These marine snails are also called "sea butterflies" because of their winglike swimming appendages. Masses of pteropods drift with currents in the open ocean, where they provide food for fish and whales. Like garden snails, their earthbound relatives, pteropods build calcium carbonate shells. But pteropods' thin, fragile shells may be vulnerable to the ocean's changing chemistry. (See Pages 68, 70, 72, and 76). At WHOI, biologists Gareth Lawson and Amy Maas have championed pteropods, investigating how these beautiful creatures and key links in the food chain will be affected by ocean acidification.
Image Of the Day caption:
Drifting with currents, tiny swimming marine snails called pteropods ("wing-foot") are an important source of food for fish, whales, and other marine animals. Also called "sea butterflies," pteropods have shells of calcium carbonate, similar to those of garden snails, but thinner and more delicate. WHOI biologists Gareth Lawson and Amy Maas study these beautiful and important creatures to learn how vulnerable they are to ocean acidification.
Photo by Nancy Copley
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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