Scanning Electron Microscope Imagery

Each segment in this elegant structure is a chamber that once sheltered an individual animal. In effect, it’s an apartment block just a millimeter wide. The image is black-and-white because it was taken with a scanning electron microscope, a device that creates images of tiny objects by bombarding them with electrons rather than sensing visible light. This particular extreme close-up reveals the calcified chambers left by a colony of bryozoans, microscopic marine animals that are little known but widespread.

This species (Thalamoporella californica) is locally common as a branching crust on kelp and other algae. Howard/Berry Chair of Malacology Henry W. Chaney, PhD, stewards and studies many thousands of bryozoan specimens at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He and colleagues at the Museum photograph this hidden world to learn more about mysterious animals and share data with researchers worldwide.