A UC Santa Cruz research team has deployed algae-photographing robots to be on the lookout for the formation of algal blooms in the Monterey and San Francisco bays. It’s a promising new step for the California coastline, where crab fishers and feasters alike now routinely watch for news of season opening delays caused by algae-made domoic acid contamination. The algae-photographing robots can check water for harmful algae species every 20 minutes — much more frequently than humans can manually collect and examine water samples. With the robots and the lab’s computer programs constantly identifying algae in the water, team members can warn state officials right away when they start seeing increases in toxic algae species.