zooplankton
ZOH-uh-plangk-tuhn
Definition
Tiny, drifting aquatic animals that are unable to swim against currents and serve as a primary food source for many larger marine and freshwater organisms.
Etymology
The word is a 20th-century combination of the Greek 'zoon' (animal) and 'planktos' (wandering), describing organisms that drift passively in water.
In the news
In the article, zooplankton are identified as the primary food source for the Lake Malawi midge larvae, which spend their nights feeding on these organisms near the lake's surface.
The textbook reason insects never colonised the deep ocean is that water pressure would crush their airways — but a larvae living in Lake Malawi dives deeper than 200 metres every single day, protected by air sacs built from a near-perfect biological rubber
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com