Plankton is a mass of tiny animals and plants that live in the surface layer of the sea.
...its usual diet of plankton and other small organisms.
plankton in British English
(ˈplæŋktən)
noun
the organisms inhabiting the surface layer of a sea or lake, consisting of small drifting plants and animals, such as diatoms
Compare nekton
Derived forms
planktonic (plæŋkˈtɒnɪk)
adjective
Word origin
C19: via German from Greek planktos wandering, from plazesthai to roam
plankton in American English
(ˈplæŋktən)
noun
the usually microscopic animal and plant life found floating or drifting in the ocean or in bodies of fresh water, used as food by nearly all aquatic animals
Derived forms
planktonic (plankˈtonic) (ˈplæŋkˈtɑnɪk)
adjective
Word origin
Ger < Gr planktos, wandering < plazesthai, to wander, akin to planan: see planet
Examples of 'plankton' in a sentence
plankton
Similar plankton blooms still happen in the sea today.
Richard Fortey THE EARTH: An Intimate History (2004)
These abundant insects have been called aerial plankton.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
But the sand eels have vanished, and so too have the tiny plankton that they eat.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Fish get their omega-3 from algae and plankton.
The Sun (2014)
After all, thirty years ago no one thought plankton blooms could make clouds.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
We'll be trawling for fish and plankton.
Oxenhorn, Harvey Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic (1990)
The whale shark is harmless to people, feeding on plankton and small fish.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The lamps are intended to convert the platforms into nurseries for specially selected seaweed that absorbs carbon dioxide and feeds fish and plankton.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
A plankton bloom brings out the big fish.
The Sun (2012)
We also learn about the descent of drifts of dead plankton - so-called marine snow.