And the Waters Turned to Blood Chapter 3-4 Lit Circle Quote Master

‘One of the characteristics typically used to identify dinoflagellates was size, but the size range among these was incredible. The largest were almost ten times bigger than the smallest.’

‘Another characteristic of dinoflagellates was that each species had a disitincitve shape, yet all the organisms she was looking at were barely configured. “They look like the same thing, only miniature or bigger.”’

‘In the days that followed, Cecil Hobbs was so discouraged that he considered calling Dr. Burkholder and Noga, telling them what had happened, and dropping the project entirely.  But he didn’t and it was something in the back of his mind that wouldn’t let him give up just yet.  It was as if he was waiting for a sign—and then it came, the thought that if this organism could spread so easily from one tank to another, perhaps it was hardy enough to survive on the empty walls of an empty tank.’

‘Left alone, this microscopic alga seemed content to rest in a dormant state  on the sediment at the bottom of an aquarium, encrusted in a scaly shell, where it appeared to thrive on photosynthesis, as you would expect from vegetation.  But as soon as fish were introduced into the water, it somehow sensed their presence, and a bizarre series of transformations was initiated that turned a harmless little cyst into a veritable sea monster. Bursting out of its shell, a swimming cell propelled itself through the water by means of two whiplike tails, or flagella. Then, as it rose through the water column and approached a fish, it apparently unleashed a powerful neurotoxin that at first stunned and eventually suffocated its prey, evidently due to muscular paralysis. This toxin also seemed to have a corrosive effect on fish skin, which, as the victim died, would slough off. At this point the dinoflagellate adopted yet another form, enlarging in size to accommodate the growth of a tonguelike absorption tube, called a peduncle, which the dino attached to fish flesh and fed at a leisurely pace.’

These quotes are from the parts of the text where Burkholder found that this particular dinoflagellate was different from others when it comes to size and shape.  The third quote references Hobbs’ successful attempt to coax the dino back to life when his daughter poured out the water that contained it.  The last quote is the description of what Burkholder discovered when Hobbs mastered taking photos with the scanning electron microscope.