Interesting Plankton Facts

The name 'plankton' comes from the Greek word 'planktos' meaning wandering or drifting.
The name is given because Plankton rely on ocean currents for transportation because they very limited swimming abilities.

Besides bacteria Planktonic organisms are the most abundant life form on earth.


Some plankton are carnivores, while others are herbivores. On top of that, there are even some types of plankton that are plants. These "plant" plankton are called Phytoplankton and they perform around 40% of the photosynthesis that occurs on the earth. That is only one of the reasons why plankton are so important.

As well as being the foundation of many food webs, plankton are also very important to the ocean's carbon cycle by transferring carbon from the surface of the water (gathered by photosynthesis) to the depths of the ocean in the form of detritus.