Gelatinous zooplankton

Gelatinous zooplankton is the term used to describe the fragile animals that live in the water column in the ocean. They have very delicate bodies that are easily damaged or destroyed. Gelatinous zooplankton are often transparent. All jellyfish are gelatinous zooplankton, but not all gelatinous zooplankton are jellyfish. The most commonly encountered organisms include ctenophores, medusae, salps, and Chaetognatha in coastal waters. However, almost all marine phyla, including Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda, contain gelatinous species, but many of those odd species live in the open ocean and the deep sea and are less available to the casual ocean observer. Gelatinous zooplankton have also been called "Gelata".

See also

• Aurelia

References

• Haddock, S.D.H. (2004) A golden age of gelata: past and future research on planktonic ctenophores and cnidarians. Hydrobiologia 530/531: 549-556.
• Johnsen, S. (2000) Transparent Animals. Scientific American 282: 62-71.
• Lalli, C.M. & Parsons, T.R. (2001) Biological Oceanography. Butterworth-Heinemann.
• Nouvian, C. (2007) The Deep. University of Chicago Press.

External links

• Plankton Chronicles Short documentary films & photos
• [1] Ocean Explorer: Gelatinous zooplankton from the Arctic Ocean
• [2] Jellyfish and other gelatinous zooplankton
• [3] PLANKTON*NET: information on all types of plankton including gelatinous zooplankton
• [4] Deep-sea gelatinous zooplankton from The Deep (Nouvian, 2007)