Zooplankton are the heterotrophic (sometimes detritivorous) component of the plankton that drift in the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different basic morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the The stinging sea nettle ( Chrysaora quinquecirrha) is a Species of Jellyfish occurring particularly in Atlantic estuaries Krill are a type of Shrimp -like marine Invertebrate animal These small Crustaceans are important organisms of the Zooplankton, particularly Northern krill ( Meganyctiphanes norvegica) is a Crustacean that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. A heterotrophs, or chemoorganotrophy ( Greek heterone = (another and trophe = nutrition is an Organism that requires Detritivores, also known as detritus feeders or saprophages, are Heterotrophs that obtain Nutrients by consuming Detritus (decomposing Plankton consist of any drifting Organisms ( Animals Plants Archaea, or Bacteria) that inhabit the Pelagic zone of Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. This article is about the body of water For other uses see SEA and Seas. Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as Ponds lakes rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved Salts and other Total dissolved The name is derived from Greek terms, zoon (ζῴον) meaning "animal", and planktos (πλαγκτος) meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c ^[1] Many zooplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. The naked eye is a Figure of speech referring to human Visual perception that is unaided by enhancing equipment such as a Telescope or

Zooplankton is a broad categorisation spanning a range of organism sizes that includes both small protozoans and large metazoans. Protozoa (in Greek πρῶτον proton "first" and ζῷα zoia "animals" are unicellular Eukaryotes (singular It includes holoplanktonic organisms whose complete life cycle lies within the plankton, and meroplanktonic organisms that spend part of their life cycle in the plankton before graduating to either the nekton or a sessile, benthic existence. Holoplankton are organisms that are planktonic for their entire life cycle A life cycle is a period involving 1 Generation of an Organism through means of Reproduction, whether through Asexual reproduction or Sexual Meroplankton are organisms that are planktonic for only a part of their life cycles usually the larval stage Nekton refers to the aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water (usually oceans or lakes able to move independently of water currents Sessile is a term in Biology with two distinct meanings In botany and medicine In Botany, sessile means "without a stalk Benthos are the organisms which live on in or near the Seabed, also known as the Benthic zone.

Ecologically important protozoan zooplankton groups include the foraminiferans, radiolarians and dinoflagellates (the latter are often mixotrophic). Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of The Foraminifera, ("Hole Bearers" or forams for short are a large group of Amoeboid Protists with reticulating Pseudopods fine Radiolarians (also radiolaria) are Amoeboid Protozoa that produce intricate Mineral Skeletons typically with a central capsule The dinoflagellates are a large group of Flagellate Protists Most are marine Plankton, but A mixotrophic organism is one that obtains its electrons from an inorganic electron source ( Hydrogen-sulfide, Ammonium, Hydrogen) but uses organic matter Important metazoan zooplankton include cnidarians such as jellyfish and the Portuguese Man o' War; crustaceans such as copepods and krill; chaetognaths (arrow worms); molluscs such as pteropods; and chordates such as salps and juvenile fish. Cnidaria (naɪˈdɛəriə is a phylum containing some 9000 Species of Animals found exclusively in aquatic mostly marine, environments Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different basic morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the The Portuguese Man O' War ( Physalia physalis) also known as the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, or the Portuguese man of war Structure of crustaceans As Arthropods crustaceans have a stiff Exoskeleton, which must be shed to allow the animal to grow ( Ecdysis or molting Copepods are a group of small Crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat and they constitute the biggest source of protein in the oceans Krill are a type of Shrimp -like marine Invertebrate animal These small Crustaceans are important organisms of the Zooplankton, particularly Chaetognatha is a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of Plankton worldwide Molluscs are animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca. There are around 250000 extant Species within the phylum with an estimated 70000 Sea butterflies, also known as Thecosomata or flapping Snails, are a Taxonomic suborder of Pelagic swimming sea snails Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates A salp (plural salps; also salpa, plural salpae or salpas) is a barrel-shaped free-floating Tunicate. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two This wide phylogenetic range includes a similarly wide range in feeding behaviour: filter feeding, predation and symbiosis with autotrophic phytoplankton as seen in corals. Filter feeders (also known as suspension feeders) are Animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water typically by passing the water This article is about the biological phenomenon for other uses see Symbiosis (disambiguation The term symbiosis (from the Greek An autotroph (from the Greek autos = self and trophe = nutrition is an Organism that produces complex Organic compounds from simple Phytoplankton are the Autotrophic component of the Plankton community Zooplankton feed on bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, other zooplankton (sometimes cannibalistically), detritus (or marine snow) and even nektonic organisms. Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the Plankton that drifts in the water column Cannibalism is the act of one individual of a species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food In Biology, detritus is non-living particulate organic material (as opposed to dissolved organic material In the deep ocean marine snow is a continuous shower of mostly organic Detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column

Through their consumption and processing of phytoplankton (and other food sources), zooplankton play an important role in aquatic food webs, both as a resource for consumers on higher trophic levels and as a conduit for packaging the organic material in the biological pump. Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. In Ecology, trophic dynamics is the system of trophic levels ( Greek trophē, food which describe the position that an organism occupies In Oceanic Biogeochemistry, the biological pump is the sum of a suite of biologically-mediated processes that transport Carbon from the surface

See also

• Bacterioplankton
• Biological pump
• Diel vertical migration
• Gelatinous zooplankton
• Iron fertilization
• Ocean acidification
• Phytoplankton
• Plankton
• Primary production

References

External links

• Plankton*Net @ Roscoff, images of planktonic species
• Guide to the marine zooplankton of south eastern Australia, Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute

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