And yet, they are not the most important organism that inhabits the ocean.
What about king crab, oysters, mackerel, shrimp, or tuna? This bounty from the sea must surely be the most important? Combined, the harvest of these animals is a multimillion dollar industry that means work for millions of people worldwide in support of our desire for seafood.
The 2015 king crab season saw the harvest of more than 300,000 pounds of crab from the frigid waters of Alaska. At a consumer value of $13/pound, it’s surprising that neither these shellfish, or their equally valuable counterparts are not the most important animals in the sea.
So what is it? What organisms reign supreme as “The Most Important” in the ocean?
Plankton.
Yes, those tiny plants and animals that make up the basis of most marine food webs.
They’re innocuous, floating under the radar of most ocean enthusiasts.
Plankton, from the Greek meaning “wanderer” are classified as zooplankton, the animals, and phytoplankton, the plants. Phytoplankton is considered a primary producer, generating massive volumes of oxygen and consuming carbon dioxide via the process of photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are the first step in most marine food webs as they are eaten by zooplankton such as: krill, copepods, various crustacean larvae, and baby fish. Zooplankton are consumed directly by crabs, oysters, shrimp and other commercially valuable shellfish and small fish such as anchovies. Those great blue whales rely solely on plankton to support their enormous appetites--some .5 million kilocalories/day to meet their dietary requirements. And when you connect the dots, Orcas, those killer of whales, wouldn’t have much to eat if plankton didn’t fuel the biomass they rely on.
So the next time you’re thinking about the pillars of the sea, the key organisms that make the ocean what it is, think small.
Think plankton.
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