Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The collection of organisms in the plankton that spend only part of their life cycle, usually the larval or egg stage, drifting freely in the water.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The organisms, considered collectively, that pass part of their lives in the depths of the ocean and part at or near the surface.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology Any organism that spends part of its life-cycle (especially the
larval stage) asplankton
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Planktonic larvae, also known as "meroplankton" are the most common early life stage of marine invertebrates, many of whom live on the bottom as adults.
Planktonic larvae 2008
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Examples of meroplankton include larvae of sea urchins, starfish, clams, crustaceans, worms and most fish.
Plankton 2008
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Within the plankton, holoplankton are those that spend their entire life cycle in the plankton, while meroplankton are those organisms that are only planktonic for part of their lives (usually the larval stage), and then move into the nekton or a benthic habitat.
Plankton 2008
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Post-transport ballast water contains high densities of both holoplankton, organisms such as dinoflagellates and jellyfish that spend their entire life as plankton, and meroplankton, the temporary larval stages of crustaceans, worms, and fish.
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