HBPHBAthe very small forms of plant and animal life that live in water, especially the sea, and are eaten by fish 浮游生物 →4 See picture of 见图 FOOD CHAIN
Examples from the Corpus
plankton• Creatures that floatnear the surface of the seas are called plankton.• The ocean had so much plankton in it that the sea itself had changed colour.• Against the palebackground the plankton which swarmed on the surface were clearly visible.• All creatures that live in the plankton have to devisemeans of stayingafloat.• Cod, for instance, lay about nine million eggs into the plankton.• Because the creatures of the plankton individually are small, they are not always visible to the naked eye.• Through most of the summer, then, the plankton in open ocean is gradually depleted.• The plankton, he said, produce naturalchemicals whose effect is similar to that of oil on the water.
Originplankton
(1800-1900)GermanGreek, from planktos“wandering”, from plazesthai“to wander”