Plankton are fascinating. Plankton are basically organisms that drift; they have little or no means or determining where in the open water they are heading, and are subject to the mercy of water current. Plankton can be zooplankton (those that can't synthesize their own food) and phytoplankton (which synthesize food by photosynthesis). Then there's holoplankton (planktonic lifestyle their whole lives, like jellies) and meroplankton (planktonic lifestyle only for certain life stages).
Above is a worm larva (zooplankton, and hmm, not sure if adult stage is planktonic) and below, a shrimp larva (zooplankton, meroplankton). For intriguing plankton photographs, I refer to the Image Quest Marine Stock Photo Library at http://www.imagequest3d.com
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