Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies

09/11/2026

Something unusual is happening in Casco Bay right now. 🌊

A bloom of the dinoflagellate 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘪 has been turning the water brown and drawing attention from local news outlets and state monitoring programs. Maine officials are tracking the bloom because this species can impact fish and shellfish, although it is not considered harmful to humans.

🔗 Learn more about the bloom: https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/fisheries/dead-dying-clams-reported-along-harpswell-coast-as-officials-investigate/97-d15171e6-38b6-4d87-a435-0982093d54dc

Earlier this week, our retired colleague, Harry Nelson, stopped by Fogg's Water Taxi on Portland's waterfront, collected a net tow sample, and brought it back to the FlowCam office so we could take a closer look.

At 10X magnification, we immediately found 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘪. Watching it swim through the sample was a reminder that harmful algal blooms are more than just a discoloration of the water. They're complex biological communities. Alongside 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢, we observed other dinoflagellates including 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮, and 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘰𝘴.

When we examined the same sample at 4X, an even broader community came into view: appendicularians, copepods, larger 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘰𝘴 species, and actively feeding shellfish larvae.

One of the most fascinating parts of this exercise was seeing how much ecological context a single sample can provide. While satellite imagery can show where a bloom is occurring, plankton imaging helps reveal what is actually there. NOAA's HAB Forecasting Team noted this week that the densest bloom patches appear to be along the Maine and New Hampshire coast, but determining exactly which organisms are contributing to those signals requires observations in the water. That's where plankton imaging provides valuable ground-truth information about what types of organisms contribute to blooms like this one.

🔗 See NOAA's forecasts:
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/science-areas/habs/hab-forecasts/

09/02/2026

If you use FlowCam with EcoTaxa, finding the right training materials, guides, and support resources just got a lot easier. 🔬

We've launched a new EcoTaxa Resource Center that brings our EcoTaxa-related content together in one place. Previously, these resources were spread across multiple locations. Now they're organized and easier to access when you need them.

Whether you're getting started or looking for answers to a specific workflow question, this should save you some time.

🔗 Explore the resource center: https://www.fluidimaging.com/flowcam-ecotaxa-resource-center

Discover resources for using EcoTaxa with FlowCam, including webinars, technical notes, and support to enhance your plankton image analysis.

08/31/2026

08/11/2026

⛴️ It’s BLOOM Time! 🔬 Last week we brought FlowCam onboard the R/V Bowditch for the BLOOM Educators program at Bigelow Laboratory! ☀️ This amazing professional development program, led by Dr. Nicole Poulton and Dr. David Fields, introduces middle & high school teachers from Maine and New Hampshire to the fundamentals of oceanography - including field work! 🌊By having FlowCam onboard for the day, teachers were able to see live images of phytoplankton they collected at different stations up and down the Damariscotta River without having to preserve or wait to view their samples onshore. 🌲 Teachers will have access to their FlowCam data this fall via EcoTaxa, providing a quantitative, digital version of their samples for students to explore plankton diversity. ✏️

07/31/2026

💡REU Student Spotlight: Exploring Zooplankton Size & Carbon Distribution in the Gulf of Maine ⭐️ We caught up with Ella Weinmann, an undergraduate student at Suffolk University who used FlowCam Macro for her REU project in the Fields Lab at Bigelow Laboratory this summer! Ella worked with Mason Pomroy on a method to quickly image zooplankton in different size fractions and relate image-based size measurements to physical, dry weight biomass and carbon content. ⚖️ According to Ella, FlowCam Macro “really revolutionized our ability to assess the community structure of zooplankton on a large scale.” 🌎 Congratulations on a job well done, Ella!

07/30/2026

It’s the Intersection of the Interns 2026! 👏Congratulations to all of the amazing undergraduate students wrapping up their 10-week summer of science at Bigelow Laboratory! FlowCam interns Kate, Kaitlin and Jeremy visited Bigelow to hear REU students present their posters. It was fantastic connecting with students, their mentors, and other FlowCam users around the building. Tune in tomorrow to hear one student, Ella, summarize the important role FlowCam Macro played in her zooplankton research this summer! ☀️🎤

07/21/2026

Spot the ! 👀

If you look closely during this news segment on the Chesapeake Bay algal bloom, you'll catch a familiar instrument in the background of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) lab.

Kim Reece checked in with her local news station to talk about a mixed phytoplankton bloom in the Bay, including rising concentrations of Margalefidinium polykrikoides ("Marg"), a species long associated with harmful algal blooms in the region. With water temperatures forecast to climb, the bloom may keep growing.

Rapidly imaging, identifying, and counting phytoplankton like "Marg" in a complex mixed sample is exactly where flow imaging microscopy shines, so it's great to see FlowCam being put into action!

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXiyZtv0urY

While many algal blooms are a natural part of summer conditions in ...

06/26/2026

Summer is officially here in southern Maine! We love observing how our Casco Bay plankton community shifts throughout the year.

When we posted in March, our samples were dominated by diatoms. This month we’re still seeing plenty of dazzling diatoms, but we also get to see delightful dinoflagellates like Dinophysis and Protoperidinium! We also get excited whenever we see shellfish larvae and other microzooplankton like tintinnids. Pollen appears often this time of year, too. The diversity in our local waters is amazing!

Have you seen anything exciting in your FlowCam samples lately? Comment below!

06/17/2026

WEBINAR | 🌊 What's living in the ocean's twilight zone — and how do we study it efficiently?

Into the Twilight Zone: How Modern Imaging Technology is Supporting Zooplankton Research
📅 Thursday, July 9 | 1:30 PM BST | 2:30 PM CEST | 8:30 AM EDT
🔗 Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2918175784358227548?source=Facebook

Join us for our next FlowCam webinar featuring Eloïse Savineau, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter, as she shares how bench-top imaging with FlowCam Macro is transforming zooplankton research.

Zooplankton are central to ocean food webs and carbon cycling—but traditional microscopy analysis is time- and labor-intensive. Eloïse will discuss how modern imaging technology can serve as an effective alternative for broad-level taxonomic analysis, drawing on her work with long-term datasets from Atlantic Meridional Transect cruises.

06/09/2026

🌊 FlowCam is heading to Juneau, Alaska next week for the Phycological Society of America Annual Meeting!

We're excited to be exhibiting at PSA 2026, where some of the world's leading phycologists and algae researchers will gather for three days of talks, workshops, and field trips.

Stop by our booth for live demonstrations of FlowCam's high-speed plankton imaging technology. Whether you're studying marine phytoplankton, freshwater algae, or harmful algal blooms (HABs), we'd love to show you how FlowCam can elevate your research.

Meeting Dates : The meeting will start on  June 14th  with an evening mixer and conclude  June 17th  with our banquet. There will be three full days of talks, as well as an optional field morning field trip and a genomics workshop from JGI. More details a