Like phytoplankton, zooplankton are usually weak swimmers and usually just drift along with the currents. Zooplankton are a type of heterotrophic plankton that range from microscopic organisms to large species, such as jellyfish Zooplankton are found within large bodies of water, including oceans and freshwater systems. Zooplankton include microscopic animals (krill, sea snails, pelagic worms, etc.), the young of larger invertebrates and fish, and weak swimmers like jellyfish Most zooplankton eat phytoplankton, and most are, in turn, eaten by larger animals (or by each other). Explore zooplankton's role in aquatic ecosystems, behavior, diet, reproduction, and conservation status
Learn why they're vital for marine health! Zooplankton, weakly swimming animals belonging to many phyla (primary divisions of the animal kingdom), which, as larvae or adults, exist wholly suspended within a water body The marine zooplankton is dominated by copepod crustaceans, found in great numbers in all oceans. They are tiny organisms that float through the ocean or freshwater habitats and provide essential food for various other species. The researchers who took part in the census of marine zooplankton, a project of the census of marine life, spent a decade surveying and photographing holozooplankton biodiversity around the world. Zooplankton is a collective term for a vast and diverse group of small, often microscopic, animals that drift or weakly swim in aquatic environments
