It’s a rare event when our phytoplankton taxonomist, Sharyn Hedrick, sees something new. She’s observed and photographed hundreds of species of dinoflagellates, diatoms, algae and the like. Phytoplankton are the microscopic organisms that float in the ocean’s photic zone where they can photosynthesize and become a source of food for other creatures in the food web.

It’s not an exaggeration to say Hedrick was ecstatic when she peered into her inverted phase contrast microscope and found Amphisolenia quadrispina floating in her sample. “For 20 years I’ve been hoping to see something like this,” she said. A. quadrispina has a unique long, thin shape that resembles a stick, more than it does other dinoflagellates. It’s huge too — between 600 to 700 microns, which is still smaller than the tip of a needle, but large by phytoplankton standards.
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