Baltic Sea grey seal (Halichoerus grypus grypus) is considered a threat to the fisheries, yet this species is a natural part of the ecosystem. In spite of past declines and coastal exploitation, they are now growing in numbers again. Here, hundreds of grey seals are thriving together with harbour seals in the nature reserve Måkläppen, SW Scania, Sweden.

Here’s the elegant sea anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana, under an epifluorescence microscope. The red spots are the chloroplast of the photosynthetic symbionts (colloquially referred to as “zooxanthellae”) excited by the light of a certain wavelength and yes, you can also see those famous green fluorescent protein bands in there!

Maybe the key to a sustainable future is to realize that we don’t just interact with nature, we are part of it.
Location: Chania, Greece.

The view of McMurdo research station, Antarctica, from the top of Observation Hill taken January 2018 during a research voyage aboard the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer. You can see the track in the ice we made coming in! McMurdo was such an interesting place, where the sun frequently dipped in the sky but never quite set, with clear views of the volcano Mt.

At each sampling station in the Belgian Coastal Zone, the RV Simon Stevin (VLIZ) stops for 20-30 minutes, depending on the requirements of the different scientists on board. A range of different sampling equipment are deployed, the CTD being one of them.