Marine Biology

Zooplankton

Zooplankton are the various free floating animals, i.e. heterotrophic or primary and secondary consumers. All the animal components of the plankton are called zooplankton. They are heterotrophic in nature as they depend on the already formed organic matters for their source of food. Their food materials include phytoplankton, smaller or microzooplankton and detritus. Zooplankton encompass many different groups of animals that range in size from microscopic crustaceans to jellyfish which measure  a few feet across. As many zooplankton can feed on tiny phytoplankton, and are intern eaten by larger zooplankton, fish, or even whales, zooplankton form an important and intermediate link in the food web between primary producers and the higher trophic levels. E.g., copepods, foraminiferans, siphanophores, eggs and larvae of fishes, veligers of molluscs etc.