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plankton |
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plankton: see marine biology marine biology, study of ocean plants and animals and their ecological relationships. Marine organisms may be classified (according to their mode of life) as nektonic, planktonic, or benthic. Nektonic animals are those that swim and migrate freely, e.g. ..... Click the link for more information. . planktonMarine and freshwater organisms that, because they are unable to move or are too small or too weak to swim against water currents, exist in a drifting, floating state. Plankton is the productive base of both marine and freshwater ecosystems, providing food for larger animals and indirectly for humans, whose fisheries depend on plankton. As a human resource, plankton has only begun to be developed and used. The plantlike community of plankton is called phytoplankton, and the animal-like community is called zooplankton, but many planktonic organisms are better described as protists. Most phytoplankton serves as food for zooplankton, but some of it is carried below the light zone. Zooplankton is used directly as food by fish (including herring) or mammals (including whales), but several links on the food chain usually have been passed before plankton is available for human consumption. plankton the organisms inhabiting the surface layer of a sea or lake, consisting of small drifting plants and animals, such as diatoms How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Next, the book reviews the various organisms that live in the ocean or that rely on it for food, from bottom-dwelling bioluminescent plankton to the more familiar mollusks, bony fish, and marine mammals. They acquire their pink color by eating shrimp, plankton, and other foods that contain carotenoids [pigments found in plants and animals]. Plankton are microscopic plants that spend their lives drifting in the ocean. |
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