Back to back storm fronts have dumped plenty of rain on the Oregon coast and created large swells that prevented us from sampling. We have received 18 inches of rain at Hatfield Marine Science Center this year! We patiently waited for a weather window between storms and in early February we took advantage of a break in the swell to sample out to NH-15.
As expected, our nets were very clean; a typical sign of wintertime conditions. Our vertical nets were full of small, clear copepods and the community consisted of a mix of Paracalanus, Ctenocalanus, and Clausocalanus. Of interesting note in our plankton nets were a significant number of Corolla spectabilis, a marine gastropod.