plankto-, plankt-, -plankton
(Greek: passively drifting, wandering, or roaming)
An organism that moves or floats freely in the open water: John found out about euplankton in his biology book which said that these living forms drift easily on the surface of open waters and are different to the tychoplankton that exist in the depths of the oceans.
The tiniest of the aquatic microplankton: The femtoplankton is able to flow through very fine mesh plankton nets.
An organism with air vacuoles: Gasoplankton are able to bob or glide along the surface of the water because of a membrane-bound vesicle containing air, or also termed a floating organ.
Marine or inland saltwater planktonic organisms: There was a great documentation on TV about the haliplankton that described the floating and swimming organisms of the ocean, but which were not found in fresh water lakes.
A plant or animal organism that floats or swims lazily in water: A haloplankton spends its whole life-cycle as a microscopic creature, drifting aimlessly around in a lake or sea.
The very small lifeforms that live in small ponds and marshy areas: Mr. Timmons, the biology teacher at Jane's school, talked about heleoplankton that existed in the still freshwater next to their school.
heleoplanktonic (adjective) (not comparable)
Referring to the tiny forms of life that exist in marshy regions and in little ponds: Susan watched a TV program about the heleoplanktonic creatures that swim in the still pools of fresh water in certain areas of her region.
Plankton of a marsh or pool of still water: Jenny loved lying down beside the pond and gazing at the heloplankton, which included a relatively large number of floating plants.
Tiny mainly plant organisms that exist in shallow pools of water and sink to the bottom at certain times: Hemiplankton evidently are not completely independent of soil due to the fact that they rest on a riverbed at fixed periods of their life span.
Small life forms that achieve buoyancy by means of surface secretions: There wasn't much information about hidroplankton in Jane's science book, only that its floatability was possible because of surface emissions.
An organism that floats in the open sea: The holoplankton, such as a diatom or algae, drifts around freely and spends its entire life cycle as part of the plankton community.
holoplanktonic (adjective) (not comparable)
Descriptive of tiny organisms that live in the water during their entire life cycle: Tom's biology teacher said that holoplanktonic creatures spend their complete life in water floating, drifting, or swimming feebly.
A tiny organism found in the layer of water directly above the bottom of the sea: The hypoplankton floats or swims almost at the bottom of the ocean, includes some amphipods and cumacids, and does not creep or run over the ocean floor.
hypoplanktonic (adjective) (not comparable)
Relating to the very small organisms swimming in the water in 100 fathoms depth: Jane wanted to know more about hypoplanktonic creatures that drifted deep in the water, but above the very bottom of a seabed.
New born fish that float before they are capable of swimming by themselves: It was interesting to learn that such tiny, recently hatched fish and larvae keep their positions in the water since they cannot move independently at this early stage of life.
For more details about planktonic life, see Plankton Varieties.
Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving the "sea" and the "ocean" bodies of water: abysso- (bottomless); Atlantic; batho-, bathy- (depth); bentho- (deep, depth); halio-, halo- (salt or "the sea"); mare, mari- (sea); necto-, nekto- (swimming); oceano-; pelago- (sea, ocean); thalasso- (sea, ocean).
