The Spring Bloom has arrived! Fueled by lengthening days and an influx of nutrients from the Pacific Ocean, the phytoplankton community in the San Francisco Bay is growing and multiplying rapidly. 

Each week the biology lab uses a plankton net to collect a water sample at Pier 15, and then examines the organisms under a microscope. This week’s sample, magnified ~50x times, is full of plant-like phytoplankton and tiny animals called zooplankton.

This work is part of the Ocean Observatory Project, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.