Researchers Use Acoustic 3-D Imaging System to Unveil Swimming Behavior of Microscopic Plankton in the Ocean

From the surface, the ocean appears to be vast and uniform. But beneath the surface, tiny animals called zooplankton are swept into clusters and patches by ocean currents. The very survival of many zooplankton predators-from invertebrates to whales-and the success of fishermen catches can depend on their success at finding those patches.
For almost a century ocean scientists have suspected that these patches form when the zooplankton swim against the ocean currents. In all those years, however, an understanding of zooplankton swimming response to ocean currents has remained elusive, mainly due to the lack of technology to track the motions of the miniscule animals in the sea.

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All News summaries for May 05, 2005