Plankton trawl
What is plankton ?
Plankton are organisms
that drift in the ocean
because they either do
not swim or are too
small to resist ocean
currents.
There are two types of plankton
Plant plankton =
Phytoplankton – Need sunlight +
nutrients
– Make sugar + O2
– First order producers
Animal plankton =
Zooplankton – First order consumers
Where does plankton live?
• Plant plankton move with the currents,
remaining in the top few metres of
water
• Animal plankton are free swimming,
hiding in the day and feeding at night
Who are plankton? Some big animals
start life as plankton…
• Many larger
animals are
plankton when
they are young
• The plankton may
be baby starfish,
jellyfish or
shrimps
http://www.livingclassrooms.org/lbo/plankton/index.html
They’re called -Meroplankton
• Meroplankton spend only the larval or early stages of their life as part of the plankton and spend their adult lives on the reef.
• Many well-known animals found on the Great Barrier Reef spend time as free-swimming meroplankton, bearing little or no resemblance to the adult they will become.
• Meroplankton includes sea urchins, starfish, sea squirts, most of the sea snails and slugs, crabs, lobsters, octopus, marine worms and most reef fishes.
Crustaceans display some of the most spectacular metamorphoses from free-swimming meroplankton to reef-dwelling adult.
Slipper Lobster larva
Slipper Lobster larva
Slipper lobster adult
Holoplankton
• Holoplankton • Holoplankton spend
their entire lives as plankton.
• This group includes krill, copepods, various pelagic (free swimming) sea snails and slugs, jellyfish and a small number of the marine worms.
The food chain • All creatures, including
people, are dependent on plankton
• Phytoplankton are the beginning of the food chain
• Zooplankton eat phytoplankton, which provide food for larger creatures
Plankton Trawling
• Shorts
• NO shoes
• Workbook +
pencil can go to
the dry lab
• Listen carefully !
Trawling
• Move carefully around the boat.
• Try spotlighting marine life in the water.
• Enjoy the lights of Yeppoon.
• Watch for turtles, stingrays, squid and fish
Pour it in
• Pour the catch into
your specimen
container
• Look after your
sample
• Don’t shake or drop
• Live animals !!
• What can you see?
Getting off
• Wait for instructions
• Hold the sample jar
carefully
• Watch your step
• Wait at the light for
your teacher
Back to the Dry lab
• To see your catch
you will need to
listen carefully
• Tip off excess water
• Place sample into
Petri dish