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To address that knowledge gap, Sofie Spatharis at the University of Glasgow, UK, and her colleagues exposed a mix of microscopic marine algae collected from Scottish waters to standard white light.
The proportions of species in the mixture also shifted: both red and green light especially favoured growth of harmful species in the Skeletonema genus, which form dense blooms that are deadly to fish.
A young grey whale surfaces in a sheltered inlet off Mexico.