Plankton
(This is not what real
plankton looks like.  )
• From the Greek word “planktos” meaning to
drift
– They cannot swim against a current
The Base of the Ocean Food Web
• Plankton can be in any of the kingdoms of life
– Archaebacteria
– Bacteria
– Protista
– Fungi
– Plantae
– Animalia
• Holoplankton: organisms that are
plankton their entire lives
– Example: Diatoms
• Meroplankton: organisms that are
plankton for only part of their lives
– Example: Starfish
Phytoplankton
• Obtain food through photosynthesis
• Converts CO2 and water to O2 and sugar
– Sunlight is the energy source that powers this
• 70-80% of the world’s oxygen is produced by
phytoplankton
• Phytoplankton live primarily in the euphotic
and photic zones because they rely on the
sunlight
DIATOMS
• Kingdom Protista
– They are a type of algae (singular is alga)
• They have cell walls made of silica
– Material in glass
• Very beautiful when viewed under a
microscope
Diatoms Continued
• The glassy shell is called a frustule
– Has two halves and resembles a box
Diatom Reproduction
Frustules get
smaller and
smaller.
Usually asexual reproduction
Dinoflagellates
• Kingdom Protista
• Two flagella
•
•
•
•
– one wrapped around a groove along the
middle of the cell
– One trailing behind it for navigation
Cell wall made of plates of cellulose
Zooxanthellae is a dinoflagellate
Causes red tides
Bioluminescent species
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2xh9UPSlU
Zooplankton
• Animal like plankton
• They are heterotrophs, so they eat/absorb
food into their bodies
• Often eat phytoplankton
Foraminifera
• Sometimes called forams
• Kingdom Protista
• Use pseudopodia that go through pores to catch
food
• Their shells sink to the bottom of the ocean to
form an ooze
• Helps form limestone and chalk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lm9hUj2h_
0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL7B2
1BFCC020490B6
Famous forams
Homotrema rubrum is a foram
that is bright red and lives on
corals.
Very common in Bermuda;
skeletons made the island’s
famous pink beaches.
Radiolarians
•
•
•
•
Spherical
Shells of silica
Pseudopodia to eat
Also makes ooze
Ciliates
• Many hair like extensions called cilia to move
• Very common as freshwater Paramecium
Zooflagellates
• A flagellated organism from the Kingdom
Protista
• Doesn’t have a shell like dinoflagellates
– Also not autotrophic
Jellyfish
• Kingdom Animalia
• Cannot swim against current, so they are
plankton
• Wash up on beaches easily
• We will learn a lot more about jellyfish soon
Siphonophores
• Kingdom Animalia
• Related to jellyfish, but not exactly the same
• Very long and actually made of many tiny
animals
• Very fragile
• Most live in deep ocean
– Exception is Portuguese Man of War that so many
have heard horror stories about
• Kingdom
Animalia
• Class Crustacea
– Look like tiny
shrimp
• Very important
part of food
web
• Especially
important in
Antarctic Ocean
Ecosystem
Krill
Copepods
• Kingdom Animalia (Class Crustacea)
• Related to crabs and lobsters
• Often parasites, but there are some that are a
great source of food for fish
• If you find one, don’t be worried it’s a parasite
because those need to be attached to something
else to stay alive
• Two main parts of body and two large antennae