Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Nekton (organisms that swim against water currents) can be contrasted with plankton (organisms that drift with water currents), neuston (organisms that live at the ocean surface) and benthos (organisms that live at the ocean floor)
Examples of meroplankton include the larvae of sea urchins, starfish, crustaceans, marine worms, and most fish. [7] The amount and distribution of plankton depends on available nutrients, the state of water and a large amount of other plankton. [8] The study of plankton is termed planktology and a planktonic individual is referred to as a ...
The word "neuston" comes from Greek neustos, meaning "swimming", and the noun suffix-on (as in "plankton"). [2] This term first appears in the biological literature in 1917. [3] The alternative term pleuston comes from the Greek plein, meaning "to sail or float". The first known use of this word was in 1909, before the first known use of ...
Some of the largest plankton are krill and feed the largest of animals, baleen whales. My first foray into the scientific world was a job sexing Jassa falcata (a tiny amphipod) under a microscope.
The term benthos, coined by Haeckel in 1891, [3] comes from the Greek noun βένθος 'depth of the sea'. [1] [4] Benthos is used in freshwater biology to refer to organisms at the bottom of freshwater bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, and streams. [5] There is also a redundant synonym, Benton. [6]
Meroplankton can be contrasted with holoplankton, which are planktonic organisms that stay in the pelagic zone as plankton throughout their entire life cycle. [ 3 ] After a period of time in the plankton, many meroplankton graduate to the nekton or adopt a benthic (often sessile ) lifestyle on the seafloor .
Nekton, on the other hand, are larger and swim at biologically high Reynolds numbers (10 3 to 10 9), where inertial flows are the rule and eddies (vortices) are easily shed. Many organisms, such as jellyfish and most fish, start life as larva and other tiny members of the plankton community, swimming at low Reynolds numbers, but become nekton ...
The ocean's surface is hit hard by anthropogenic change, and the surface ecosystem is likely already dramatically different from even a few hundred years ago. For example, prior to widespread damming, logging, and industrialisation, more wood may have entered the open ocean, [14] while plastic had not yet been invented. And because floating ...