Gelatinous zooplankton

Gelatinous zooplankton are fragile animals that live in the water column in the ocean. They have very delicate bodies that are easily damaged or destroyed.[1] Gelatinous zooplankton are often transparent.[2] 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.[3] Many gelatinous plankters utilize mucous structures in order to filter feed.[4]Gelatinous zooplankton have also been called "Gelata".[5]

References
  1. Lalli, C.M. & Parsons, T.R. (2001) Biological Oceanography. Butterworth-Heinemann.
  2. Johnsen, S. (2000) Transparent Animals. Scientific American 282: 62-71.
  3. Nouvian, C. (2007) The Deep. University of Chicago Press.
  4. Hamner, W. M.; Madin, L. P.; Alldredge, A. L.; Gilmer, R. W.; Hamner, P. P. (1975). "Underwater observations of gelatinous zooplankton: Sampling problems, feeding biology, and behavior1". Limnology and Oceanography. 20 (6): 907–917. Bibcode:1975LimOc..20..907H. doi:10.4319/lo.1975.20.6.0907. ISSN 1939-5590.
  5. HADDOCK, S.D.H. (2004) A golden age of gelata: past and future research on planktonic ctenophores and cnidarians. Hydrobiologia 530/531: 549-556.
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