4,994
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 7:
Line 7: + +
Blue whale. Plankton in the food chain.
Plankton live in both salt and fresh water. Plankton include both plant life (phytoplankton) and animal life (zooplankton). Typical organisms of the zooplankton are about the size of a pinhead. Like dust specks in the air, they can be easily seen by snorkelers or scuba divers when they are crosslit by bright sunlight. Common elements of the plankton include tiny jellyfish and comb jellies, copepods, and dinoflagellates.
Plankton live in both salt and fresh water. Plankton include both plant life (phytoplankton) and animal life (zooplankton). Typical organisms of the zooplankton are about the size of a pinhead. Like dust specks in the air, they can be easily seen by snorkelers or scuba divers when they are crosslit by bright sunlight. Common elements of the plankton include tiny jellyfish and comb jellies, copepods, and dinoflagellates.
Plankton are an important element in the marine food chain. Notably, the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, feeds entirely on tiny plankton; it filters the water through its whalebone combs, which become coated with plankton, which it then licks off the combs with its tongue.
Although zooplankton drift with the water, they do swim at low speeds and over small distances. In particular, most zooplankton undergo a diurnal ''vertical migration,'' swimming higher in the water during the night and sinking to lower depths. (Jocular zoologists once gave a paper the rhyming title "Diurnal migrations of plankton crustaceans.")<!--It was Baylor and Smith, but I can't find a good citation online. Will supply when I find it.--->
Although zooplankton drift with the water, they do swim at low speeds and over small distances. In particular, most zooplankton undergo a diurnal ''vertical migration,'' swimming higher in the water during the night and sinking to lower depths. (Jocular zoologists once gave a paper the rhyming title "Diurnal migrations of plankton crustaceans.")<!--It was Baylor and Smith, but I can't find a good citation online. Will supply when I find it.--->