Variation in Larval Polychaete Morphology and SEM Imaging

Abstract

This study examines the morphological variation in larval polychaetes collected during different times of day around San Juan Island, Washington. Focusing on the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the project documents polychaete morphotypes collected from plankton tows and compares their form across time points. The work builds on an ongoing multi-year project investigating marine invertebrate diversity through both manual sorting and eDNA analysis. This contribution emphasizes microscopy preparation and imaging, with the goal of supporting future taxonomic identification and sequence validation.