In our ongoing explorations of phosphorus cycling, the Ingall lab group has collected samples on numerous research cruises in waters near Vancouver Canada, Brazil, Cape Verde Islands, Hawaii, North Carolina, Georgia, Peru, Louisiana and Bermuda. Among our many discoveries we have found that dissolved organic phosphorus in the ocean is enriched in unusual compounds called phosphonates (Clark, Ingall and Benner, Nature 1988). We have also recently shown that marine polyphosphates are key players in geologic phosphorus sequestration (Diaz, Ingall and others, Science 2008).