A phytoplankton sample was collected on October 4, 2023 at Bullock’s Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. The plankton tow-net sample was not collected this week, only the whole-water quantitative sample. Sonde data revealed the surface water temperature was 18.50°C, salinity was 18.15 psu, and chlorophyll a was 4.23 ug/L.
The whole water sample was analyzed and revealed a total of 676,000 cells per Liter. The micro flagellates were found at 554,000 cells/L. The most predominant phytoplankton genus was Chaetoceros spp.at 78,000 cells/L. Other representative genera include Eucampia spp. (see 400x phase contrast image below), Skeletonema spp., and Gonyaulax spp.
