A crowd of tiny travellers
Matau peers into the lagoon. “It looks as if there’s nothing in this drop of water!” Poe smiles. “What if we look a little closer?”
Plankton is a collection of living things that drift in water. Many are so tiny that we need a microscope to see them. Some plankton are larger, too!
Two big families
Phytoplankton includes tiny algae and other organisms that use sunlight to make their food. Zooplankton includes small animals such as copepods, as well as the young of some marine animals.
From the tiny to the enormous
Phytoplankton feeds some zooplankton. In turn, these little animals become food for other ocean inhabitants. In the cold waters where they feed, some whales also eat krill, a small crustacean that is part of the zooplankton! In Polynesian lagoons, plankton also feeds animals such as corals.
Matau opens his eyes wide. “Can something so tiny matter to such a huge whale?” “Yes,” Poe replies. “In nature, living things are connected.”
Remember: plankton helps feed many animals, and some plankton produces oxygen using sunlight.
Watch the adventure on YouTube (in French).
Explore further (resources in French): Marine Resources Department — lagoon plankton and Marine Resources Department — coral reefs.