Above: Thousands of oyster larvae are collected in a beaker before they are examined under a microscope at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) oyster hatchery. Wednesday, July 4, 2018. (Photo by Lisa Sadler | Virginia Sea Grant)
Health in Hatcheries: Helping oysters flourish from the hatchery to the Bay
“Aren’t they cute?” the researcher asks. Barely larger than grains of salt and pepper, baby oysters in the light of the microscope twirl in circles, darting to and fro. These oyster larvae have just been filtered out of the tanks where they’ve spent the first two weeks of their lives. To the untrained eye, the larvae all look alike, vaguely resembling black-eyed peas, but the researchers can distinguish the oysters’ shell shapes, gut color, and swimming patterns, and they use this information to keep track of the oysters’ health.
Read the whole story here.
Find out more about Virginia Sea Grant being awarded $1.9M for Aquaculture Hatchery Production.
This transmedia narrative was produced by 2018 VASG summer science communication interns Madeleine Jepsen and Lisa Sadler as part of an ongoing project to research the benefits of transmedia over traditional media for science communication.
