You know that fish live in the sea, right? You also know that in the rock pools, you find living shells and small squishy sea creatures clinging to the rocks, right? But have you ever wondered what they eat? Can you guess? They don’t eat lettuce or chicken. (Well, they might if you give them a little as bait; but you are not always there to feed them, so what do they eat?)
All life in the ocean needs phytoplankton to survive.
Phytoplankton: Tiny, tiny plants living in the seas and oceans. Tiny, tiny as they may be, these small plants are very important – not just to the ocean but to the whole planet! These tiny, little things are at the very bottom of the food chain.
The food chain starts with these tiny plants that small fish and huge whales eat. Bigger fish eat the smaller fish and even bigger fish eat the big fish. Humans then catch the fish and so life continues healthily and it all started with phytoplankton! Some 90% of the marine plants are phytoplankton.
The energy given from the plankton becomes our energy too! Where do Phytoplankton get their energy from?
These tiny plants get their energy directly from the sun using photosynthesis. (This is a big word and means the way plants get their food.) Plants growing everywhere on the planet need sunlight, even those that live in water.
Zooplankton (small weeny water animals) feed on phytoplankton. These zooplankton are then eaten by larger zooplankton. Then the fish eat it, going from the smallest fish and up! Phytoplankton consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen; we all need oxygen to live.
The name plankton comes from the Greek word planktos which means “wanderers.” There are two types of plankton – phytoplankton and zooplankton.
The difference between the two plankton is this: Phytoplankton is the name for plant plankton and Zooplankton is the name for animal plankton.
Those are the types of phytoplankton that are in our sea; they need to be protected and it is up to us humans to make sure they are protected!
Seaweed and algae are also phytoplankton.
I am going to let you read the following: “Phytoplankton are mostly made up of diatoms and dinoflagellates. Diatoms are microscopic, single celled plants covered by two shells that look glossy! Dinoflagellates are tiny plants with white shells all over them. The shells have a whip like motion that allows the phytoplankton to move.
Phytoplankton float around in the water, they live near the surface of the water because they need sunlight like all green plants, they also need nutrients to live. Phytoplankton use water and CO2 to grow, but phytoplankton still need other vitamins and minerals like iron to survive.
When the top layer of the sea and ocean gets cold, the deeper parts of the body of water bring nutrients to the surface and the plankton lives off those nutrients. When the top layer of the body of water gets warm, sea and ocean do not bring as many of these essential nutrients and the phytoplankton die. (For us in the Caribbean, when the sea/ocean gets warm, it means we could get hurricanes.)
When phytoplankton die, they drop to the bottom of the sea/ocean bed; they drop all the way down to the bottom of the sea.
Phytoplankton are very important to life, and humans should always protect them. One way to protect these very, very important tiny, tiny creatures is to make sure we humans do not let plastic bags, straws, bottles, etc., get into the sea.
If the garbage dumps are not properly cared for, the wind will blow the plastic into the sea. If we do not pick up our plastic waste after going to the beach, the plastic will end up in the sea and this will kill off those phytoplankton which are the very bottom of the food chain and very important to us humans.
The plastic clumps into big patches in the sea and do not let sunlight through; it also is bad for other sea creatures, as you already know! The moral we need to live by is: Keep our planet safe, look after even the tiniest creatures.
Stop plastic from going into the sea. (You can take cleaned plastic to Art and Craft Café to be recycled!)
Photo credit: Blue Planet Society.
