Sea Creatures Fun Facts

We like to share fun facts about the beings that reside in the sea. Where do we begin? Our Captain Christian, who’s last name is Holm, often says, “Go big or go home,” a play on words as Holm is phonetically similar to home, however in this case, let’s go small. Very small.

Let’s talk about plankton. Those itty bitty floating gems that not many pay attention to, unless you’re a whale, giant manta ray or others that like to snack on these tasty little beings.

As citizen scientists, we thrive on discovering fun facts, without long names that are challenging to pronounce or remember.

Here we go, launching this fun-filled blog for your entertainment, enjoyment and hopefully inspiration to look a little closer at the ocean and all beings who live in or on the seas.

Did you know jellyfish are considered plankton? We tend to think of plankton as minuscule, yet the word plankton derives from the Greek “planktos”, meaning “wander” or “drift,” and plankton describes any organism that drifts with the currents and does not swim or maneuver under its own power. Some of my favorite ocean drifting jellies are velella velella, which look and act like tiny sailboats and we will feature them in another article.

Our plankton friends deserve the world’s greatest respect as those little charmers called phytoplankton absorb massive amounts of CO2 and help generate 50% of the world’s oxygen for us. Thank you little critters, although phytoplankton are in the plant family and zooplankton are animals. In fact juvenile fish and other ocean babies are planktonic until they grow big enough to swim on their own.

With such a wide variety of sizes, from microscopic to massive jellyfish with trailing tentacles, plankton can be found not only in the ocean, but freshwater plankton live in ponds and lakes. One requirement for their survival is sunlight, therefore they need to remain close to the water’s surface.

Let’s all take a deep breath of plankton produced oxygen and give thanks to the plankton who feed whales and allow us to breathe, carry on little fellas.