Copepod. Copepods are the most abundant form of animal life on Earth in both numbers and biomass.

Left, saphrina copepod

Cyclopoid copepods

Salute the red jellyfish on Cinco de Mayo.  May 5th is the Mexican Independence Day.

Copepod. Salute Mrs. Plankton on July 4th, the American Independence Day.

Plankton come in the colors of Peace, Independence and Harmony for All, in many more different colors than people, and have no borders.

These red stripes and blue eggs were not painted onto these plankton.  This is how colorful live jelly fish and copepods are in the Gulf of Mexico as photographed live thru a microscope with a Nikon Coolpix 750 onboard the RV Gyre Spring 2005.

Magnification on the jellyfish is 10x, magnification on the copepod is 400x.  Although the jelly fish is much larger than the copepod and easier to see with the naked eye, it is still considered plankton because it also wanders and drifts within the water and must go with the flow of currents.

The word plankton is from the Greek word planktos meaning wanderer or drifter.


Comments to the author Cheryl Gilpin are welcomed.

Photos by Cheryl Gilpin © 2008

Visit the Micscape Library for other articles in the author's 'Microscopic Miracles' series.

Visit the online zooplankton immersion websites Virtual Ocean and Micropolitan Museum

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