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Microfauna |
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| The smallest marine organisms are known as the microfauna, and these include microscopic planktonic forms invisible to the naked eye. |
Plankton consists of organisms that drift passively along with the currents, whilst nekton includes organisms capable of movement independent of the direction of sea currents, such as whales and fish. A high abundance of plankton is usually characteristic of a bountiful sea, rich in fish and important for commercial fishing. Examples of such seas include the Gulf of Lyons, off the coast of France in the Mediterranean Sea, and off the Pacific (west) coast of South America, close to the Galapagos Islands. When dissolved nutrients are abundant, phytoplankton population blooms (explosions) occur, leading to a ‘greening’ of the water in general.
| Species which burrow/dig into the seabed or which are attached to it are known as benthic species, whilst fish species found just above the seabed at a short distance away are known as demersal fish species. Two eye-catching fish species are seahorses (in which it is the male individuals which strangely become pregnant) and moray eels, which give the wrong impression of being quite aggressive. |
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