What is plankton?

Plankton Living things that must float along with the current. Most plankton are very small! (But not all!)

Phytoplankton Zooplankton Plant-like animals

PHYTOPLANKTON Like plants, get their energy from the sun So many phytoplankton in the ocean, You can see them from space!!!

What makes sea foam?

Phaeocystis A kind of phytoplankton that lives in sticky balls. When they get churned up by the waves they make the water white and foamy.

What makes most of the oxygen we breath?

Diatoms make glass shells of all shapes and colors. Glass shell is like a greenhouse—need to get light from the sun—all phytoplankton do! PHYTOPLANKTON! For example, Diatoms

What makes light in the sea at night? photostream/

Noctiluca Known as the “night light” phytoplankton

What causes raindrops to form?

Coccolithophores

What causes red tide? (source: Buckner, serc.carleton.edu)

Dinoflagellates Phytoplankton that make nasty poisons to keep themselves from being eaten. Don’t eat clams or mussels during red tide or they could make you sick! /

Where does gasoline come from?

Foraminiferans Tiny phytoplankton that sink to the bottom of the sea and can form big puddles of oil. The gas used to fuel your parent’s cars is from oil trapped underground for millions of years.

Remember Zooplankton? Animal plankton

ZOOPLANKTON Some of these animals drift for their whole lives in the water (holoplankton) Copepod Comb Jelly Larvacean Some only drift there until they grow up (meroplankton)…they are babies, or larvae

Copepod

COMB Jellies

Larval Sea Urchin ~ Pluteus

Larval Crab ~ Zoea

Larval Sea Slug ~ Veliger

Larval Fish ~ Fry

What Eats Plankton??

Baleen Whales (Humpback)

Scallop

Sand Dollar

Other Plankton