zooplankton

noun

zoo·​plank·​ton ˌzō-ə-ˈplaŋ(k)-tən 

-ˌtän

plural zooplankton also zooplanktons

: freely floating or weakly swimming typically minute aquatic protozoans and animals (such as copepods, rotifers, and arrow worms) or the eggs or larvae of aquatic animals (such as anemones, mollusks, and fish) : plankton composed of animals

… numerous varieties of adult gamefish depend on zooplankton for a substantial portion of their diets throughout their lives.

—Byron W. Dalrymple

Phytoplankton exhale life-giving oxygen and are consumed as food by zooplankton and small fish, which, in turn, are eaten by larger fish.

—Kenneth R. Weiss

Right whales eat zooplankton, which are tiny creatures that float along in the water column, by straining huge amounts of sea water through their baleen.

—Wendall Waters

compare phytoplankton

zooplanktonic

ˌzō-ə-ˌplaŋ(k)-ˈtä-nik 

adjective

zooplanktonic organisms

Examples of zooplankton in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Or little creatures known as zooplankton gobble up those phytoplankton and poop out pellets of carbon that also sink. —Matt Simon, WIRED, 18 Jan. 2024

And then the larger predators like fish that eat the zooplankton will be impacted, on up the food chain. —Matt Simon, WIRED, 8 Feb. 2024

According to the researchers, modern arrow worms are smaller predators that survive on meals of tiny zooplankton. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024

The cycling of microplastics through the Arctic Ocean may ultimately affect the food chain: The zooplankton that feed on Melosira arctica algae are eating the particles, and when the microplastics sink to the seafloor, bottom-dwelling creatures eat them too. —Matt Simon, WIRED, 10 July 2023

Phytoplankton blooms: Less ice and warmer waters can cause phytoplankton − microscopic plant-like organisms that form the base of many aquatic food webs − to bloom earlier than the zooplankton that feed on them. —Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 3 Jan. 2024

If there are no zooplankton around, this could have a ripple effect up the food chain, especially on the fish that depend on zooplankton. —Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 3 Jan. 2024

The hypothesis is that the zooplankton are responding to temperature cues and blooming earlier in the season, before the right whales have an opportunity to forage or feed, Robbins said. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 13 Sep. 2023

This second consecutive rebound year is welcome news, after 90 percent of nesting puffins failed to raise a single chick in 2021 while the climate change in New England has put this species, and others like humpback whales and the zooplankton at the base of the Gulfs food web, in jeopardy. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 31 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

zoo- + plankton

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

zooplankton

noun

zoo·​plank·​ton ˌzō-ə-ˈplaŋ(k)-tən 

-ˌtän

: plankton that is composed of animals