Table of Contents
What are 2 examples of phytoplankton?
Among the common kinds are cyanobacteria, silica-encased diatoms, dinoflagellates, green algae, and chalk-coated coccolithophores. Phytoplankton are extremely diverse, varying from photosynthesizing bacteria (cyanobacteria), to plant-like diatoms, to armor-plated coccolithophores (drawings not to scale).
How many plankton are in the ocean?
“There are about 11,000 formally described species of plankton – we have evidence for at least 10 times more than that.”
Where is plankton found in the ocean?
They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the epipelagic or photic zone. Ichthyoplankton are planktonic, meaning they cannot swim effectively under their own power, but must drift with the ocean currents.
What are plankton’s predators?
A group of organisms that can be found at all latitudes, both in surface water and at great depths, are the marine arrowworms (e.g., Sagitta), important planktonic predators. Oysters, mussels, other marine bivalves, and snails begin life as planktonic larvae. The wing snails (Pteropoda) spend their entire life cycles as plankton.
Are phytoplankton and plankton the same thing?
Phytoplankton and zooplankton are the two types of planktons found in both fresh and marine water habitats. Phytoplankton is the plant form of the planktons whereas the zooplankton is the animal form.
What are predators of plankton?
A group of organisms that can be found at all latitudes, both in surface water and at great depths, are the marine arrowworms (e.g., Sagitta ), important planktonic predators. Oysters, mussels , other marine bivalves, and snails begin life as planktonic larvae.
Is phytoplakton and plankton the same?
Phytoplankton is a related term of plankton. As nouns the difference between phytoplankton and plankton is that phytoplankton is plankton which obtain energy by photosynthesis while plankton is a generic term for all the organisms that float in the sea a single organism is known as a plankter.