Despite my common name, I probably won't charge at you if you swim by. Then again, that probably will never happen since I like to spend my time at depths between 100 and 3,000 feet! What am I?
Every Tuesday we ask you to identify the common and scientific name of a species in the plankton! The term Plankton describes a diverse group of organisms, including juvenile fish and other baby critters that live in the water column but cannot swim against the current. Studying plankton is important in determining the health of Earth's marine ecosystem. Small phytoplankton form the beginning of the food supply which sustain larger and larger organisms all the way up to the largest marine mammals. Without plankton, there would be no life in the sea. Because it is extremely time consuming to properly identify plankton, marine scientists need your help! Join the plankton portal(planktonportal.org) and become a citizen scientist today by helping identify species of plankton for scientific research!