- The study of plankton is termed planktology and individual plankton are referred to as plankters.
- Planktons can only swim vertically
- Plankton is a general term that includes every marine organism too small and weak to swim for itself.
- Despite being so small, plankton blooms can be seen from space
- Plankton can be divided into phytoplankton, which are tiny plants, and zooplankton, which are tiny animals, but the division is blurred.
- The name plankton is derived from the Greek adjective πλαγκτός - planktos, meaning "errant", and by extension "wanderer" or "drifter".
- Countless puffs of oxygen given out by plankton early in Earth’s history gave the air its vital oxygen.
- Plankton abundance and distribution are strongly dependent on factors such as ambient nutrients concentrations, the physical state of the water column, and the abundance of other plankton.
Plankton is the basic food of all large ocean animals. - Phytoplankton levels across the world's oceans started to drop in the 1950s. The biggest changes are in the Arctic, southern and equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans, with only Indian Ocean levels remaining stable.
Facts about plankton
