Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 23 February 2025. Organisms living in water or air that are drifters on the current or wind This article is about the marine organisms. For other uses, see Plankton (disambiguation). Marine microplankton and mesoplankton Part of the contents of one dip of a hand net. The image contains diverse planktonic ...
It has a polymorphic life cycle, ranging from free-living cells to large colonies. [54] It has the ability to form floating colonies, where hundreds of cells are embedded in a gel matrix, which can increase massively in size during blooms. [55] As a result, Phaeocystis is an important contributor to the marine carbon [56] and sulfur cycles. [57 ...
These species contain scintillons, individual cytoplasmic bodies (about 0.5 μm in diameter) distributed mainly in the cortical region of the cell, outpockets of the main cell vacuole. They contain dinoflagellate luciferase , the main enzyme involved in dinoflagellate bioluminescence, and luciferin , a chlorophyll-derived tetrapyrrole ring that ...
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.
Phytoplankton (/ ˌ f aɪ t oʊ ˈ p l æ ŋ k t ə n /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
The cell nucleus and most other organelles are in the endoplasm, while the ectoplasm is filled with frothy vacuoles and lipid droplets, keeping them buoyant. The radiolarian can often contain symbiotic algae, especially zooxanthellae , which provide most of the cell's energy.
Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word πλαγκτός (planktós), meaning "wandering" or "drifting", and bacterium, a Latin term coined in the 19th century by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg. They are found in both seawater and fresh water.
Coccolithophore cells are covered with protective calcified (chalk) scales called coccoliths. Coccolithophores, or coccolithophorids, are single-celled organisms which are part of the phytoplankton, the autotrophic (self-feeding) component of the plankton community.