Phytoplankton!

so after a long conversation with the ever wandering and ever loved christopher rubadue today, this is what he had to say to me:

"allison, i went to an aquarium today.

and more than once i said:

'i don't know what the heck that cool thing is, but i bet allison mcclain would.'"

and it made me happy.

a) to know that i am perhaps in my friends' thoughts as much as they are in mine
and
b) that strange sea creatures make people think of me.

so in honor of all of my ohioans that i miss so dearly, here are some of the cool things in aquariums you can't see that i also happen to love (and research) a lot:










aren't they AWESOME.

the phytoplankton taxonomist in my lab, sherry, gets to spend her days identifying and compiling databases of these things - in addition to rocking out to irish folk music with me of course.

so, if you so desire you can see more right here : )

enjoy!