Colorful Sites from 2024

Microscopic spiney waterflea with single long tail, four spines and large, black eyespot is normally opaque/white but this one is a coral or pink color. Photo taken through microscope.A Little Pink Mystery
In 2009, undergraduates learning how to sample Lake Mendota for the limnology lecture course first discovered the invasive spiny water. Earlier this summer we got another surprise. Although they were a year late to the big Barbie party, spinies started turning pink! We think the pink color is due to infection from a parasitic bacteria, but it was a reminder that, even after 100+ years of study, our lakes can still surprise us! Photo: Tyler Butts

 

CFL pontoon boat and dock are in the foreground with green and pink colors shooting up into the night sky across Lake Mendota.The Northern Lights and the Great Aquatic Migration
CFL postdoc Tyler Butts and his summer field crew got a pleasant surprise while out on a midnight sampling trip in early October. While Tyler’s team studied the diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton, the night skies over Madison put on an epic aurora borealis show! Read Tiny Invertebrates and the Great Aquatic Migration at the CFL Blog. Photo: Joey Munoz