Abstract

More than 70 percent of the surface of the earth is covered with water, which serves as habitat for a vast number of living creatures. The suspended particulate matter in the sea is divided into living organisms, known as plankton, and dead (decaying) matter called detrius. Plankton includes all passive creatures drifting in the sea; actually, the Greek term plankton means migratory, wandering. Plankton are varying greatly in size and growth rate, and is divided in subgroups, most importantly the nutritionally dependent zooplankton and phytoplankton, which represent a large group of planktonic plants residing in the surface waters. The phytoplankton group encompasses hundreds, maybe thousands of species, ranging in size from less than 2 μm to more than 2 mm, with most falling within 5 – 50 μm.

© 1997 Optical Society of America