Sunday #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐

The term #Meroplankton refers to an organism that spends only part of its life cycle in the water column drifting as plankton. An organism which spends its entire life cycle is termed #Holoplankton. Meroplankton include juveniles of many benthic groups: starfish, barnacles, sea urchins, crabs, and even fishes. They often have very distinctive shapes. During certain times of year, they can dominate the #zooplankton by density, especially in coastal regions.