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Richard Kirby

@PlanktonPundit • 11,819 subscribers

Plankton scientist. Filmmaker. Founded the Cit Sci https://t.co/Ex5zibpKaO study. Author of 'Ocean Drifters, a secret world beneath the waves'. Former Royal Society URF.

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A tragic destiny and our shocking legacy. The microfibres from our plastic clothes end up among the plankton. National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

A tragic destiny and our shocking legacy. The microfibres from our plastic clothes end up among the plankton. National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

852,416 views • 6 months ago

Microplastics pollute every inshore plankton sample I collect. There are many new, modern wool fabrics with similar benefits to manmade materials. As your old plastic clothing wears out why not make a New Year's resolution to replace it with natural fibres. ZEISS Microscopy

Microplastics pollute every inshore plankton sample I collect. There are many new, modern wool fabrics with similar benefits to manmade materials. As your old plastic clothing wears out why not make a New Year's resolution to replace it with natural fibres. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

217,607 views • 3 years ago

This must be seen to be believed. An arrow worm in the plankton tries to eat our rubbish and chokes on a plastic microfiber. ZEISS Microscopy

This must be seen to be believed. An arrow worm in the plankton tries to eat our rubbish and chokes on a plastic microfiber. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

59,165 views • 1 year ago

Only by using a microscope is the scale revealed of our microplastic rubbish that litters my plankton samples and the once pristine sea surface from where it now enters the marine food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

Only by using a microscope is the scale revealed of our microplastic rubbish that litters my plankton samples and the once pristine sea surface from where it now enters the marine food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

66,672 views • 3 years ago

"Many of these creatures so low in the scale of nature are most exquisite in their forms and rich colours – It creates a feeling of wonder that so much beauty should be apparently created for so little purpose." So wrote Charles Darwin about the plankton. See my pinned thread to hear Sir David Attenborough tell you all about these remarkable creatures that are fundamental to life on Earth: National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

"Many of these creatures so low in the scale of nature are most exquisite in their forms and rich colours – It creates a feeling of wonder that so much beauty should be apparently created for so little purpose." So wrote Charles Darwin about the plankton. See my pinned thread to hear Sir David Attenborough tell you all about these remarkable creatures that are fundamental to life on Earth: National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

16,953 views • 6 months ago

The horror of how microplastics can enter the marine food chain. The first arrow worm has eaten a round worm, the second has eaten a plastic microfiber that has blocked the passage of food (diatoms) in its gut. ZEISS Microscopy

The horror of how microplastics can enter the marine food chain. The first arrow worm has eaten a round worm, the second has eaten a plastic microfiber that has blocked the passage of food (diatoms) in its gut. ZEISS Microscopy

54,375 views • 3 years ago

Be intrigued, be amazed, fall in love with plankton. The microscopic larvae of horseshoe worms (phylum Phoronida) are beautiful. They were first 'discovered' in 1846 by J Muller and thought to be an adult animal he called an Actinotrocha. They are still known by two names, the actinotrocha or phoronid larva. National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

Be intrigued, be amazed, fall in love with plankton. The microscopic larvae of horseshoe worms (phylum Phoronida) are beautiful. They were first 'discovered' in 1846 by J Muller and thought to be an adult animal he called an Actinotrocha. They are still known by two names, the actinotrocha or phoronid larva. National Geographic ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

10,966 views • 6 months ago

Billions of people have never seen the beauty of the Plankton. Share to show them and to also reveal that among it now, drifts our microplastic pollution. ZEISS Microscopy

Billions of people have never seen the beauty of the Plankton. Share to show them and to also reveal that among it now, drifts our microplastic pollution. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

18,242 views • 1 year ago

Even a diatom bloom that is waning is stunningly, beautiful. Living cells among empty glass cases. My plankton sample off Plymouth yesterday. ZEISS Microscopy

Even a diatom bloom that is waning is stunningly, beautiful. Living cells among empty glass cases. My plankton sample off Plymouth yesterday. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

27,291 views • 3 years ago

Beautiful, tiny (0.8mm tall) Amphinema dinema medusae are now in the Plymouth inshore plankton. These are the planktonic, surface-drifting, sexual stage of the benthic hydrozoan and you can clearly see its yellow gonads. ZEISS Microscopy

Beautiful, tiny (0.8mm tall) Amphinema dinema medusae are now in the Plymouth inshore plankton. These are the planktonic, surface-drifting, sexual stage of the benthic hydrozoan and you can clearly see its yellow gonads. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

16,478 views • 2 years ago

A 21st century plankton tragedy. The sea suffers two idioms "Out of sight, out of mind" and "What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over". Shamefully, it's our litter dump and we've reached the base of the food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

A 21st century plankton tragedy. The sea suffers two idioms "Out of sight, out of mind" and "What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over". Shamefully, it's our litter dump and we've reached the base of the food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

15,117 views • 1 year ago

Incredible biodiversity in my latest fine-net, autumn plankton sample. Tragically, however, there is now always microplastic pollution among the creatures that bring life to the sea and begin the marine food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

Incredible biodiversity in my latest fine-net, autumn plankton sample. Tragically, however, there is now always microplastic pollution among the creatures that bring life to the sea and begin the marine food chain. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

13,887 views • 2 years ago

Incredibly beautiful shapes among the winter phytoplankton in my sample collected off Plymouth, UK; they are like jewels. These single 'solar' cells begin the marine food chain. Watch a dinoflagellate get eaten by a copepod. ZEISS Microscopy

Incredibly beautiful shapes among the winter phytoplankton in my sample collected off Plymouth, UK; they are like jewels. These single 'solar' cells begin the marine food chain. Watch a dinoflagellate get eaten by a copepod. ZEISS Microscopy

12,628 views • 2 years ago

I've never seen these salps before in my 15 years of sampling Plymouth near-shore plankton. They were very abundant this week and there was little other plankton in my sample except for Muggiaea atlantica. Mackerel were feeding on the salps. ZEISS Microscopy

I've never seen these salps before in my 15 years of sampling Plymouth near-shore plankton. They were very abundant this week and there was little other plankton in my sample except for Muggiaea atlantica. Mackerel were feeding on the salps. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

12,581 views • 3 years ago

Invisible to the naked eye, under the microscope you can clearly see the plastic microfiber death-traps in my latest plankton sample. Our synthetic materials are a serious pollution threat to the ocean. ZEISS Microscopy

Invisible to the naked eye, under the microscope you can clearly see the plastic microfiber death-traps in my latest plankton sample. Our synthetic materials are a serious pollution threat to the ocean. ZEISS Microscopy

Dr Richard Kirby

12,575 views • 3 years ago

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