Nekton

Title:Nekton

Explanation of Topic Nekton- all animals capable of moving independently of the ocean currents, by swimming or other means of propulsion.

Nekton, derviving from the word nektos meaning swimming, include most adult fish, squid, marine mammals, and marine reptiles. Nekton are predominately vertabrates. Nekton take up the largest portion of known marine animals. The nekton group includes a very diverse selection of animals. Most nekton are chordates. There are over 14,000 types of nekton in the ocean. this number makes there more nekton than the other two groups of organisms. Of the nekton, a majority of these are vertebrates. Although most aren't invertebrates, there are some. Examples of invertebrate nekton are the squids, octopus, and others. Most nektonic organisms spend most, if not all, of their life in the pelagic region of the ocean. Though, as most people know, there are may marine organisms that live in the deeper, darker regions of the ocean. The creatures living in this are have to adapt to higher pressures, colder water, and darker water. Some of these nektonic organisms have adapted ways to attract food or escape predators. Some organisms, such as a jellyfish, are considered plankton when they are younger, but progress into the nekton category as they get older and bigger. Although most nektonic organisms start out as plankton, or more specifically zoo plankton, there are many marine organisms that don't, such as a shark or whale, which startout big and are never at the mercy of any underwater currents. Many nektonic organisms are used for large fishing industries, such as tuna, herring, anchovies, etc. Most of the nektonic organisms are omnivores, meaning thy eat plants and meat, and herbivores are very uncommon, but there are some grazers on the edges of the ocean who eat algea.

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Links to more information: [] [] BOOK: Practice Hall Earth Science www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep6e.htm Book: Encyclopedia O [|sciencecastle.com/sc/ index.php/articles/view/34] [] Interesting Facts or Discoveries: Firstly, an most importantly, i found out what nekton were in there first place. I found out that although shrimp are nekton, they fall under a category pretaining mostly to benthos. I found out that there are over 14,000 types of nekton. I had originally thought that there less. Only 2,000 at the most is what i had originally thought. I have also found that studying the topic of nekton is much harder than you would imagine as there is very little information that I can find.

Works Cited: [|http://wwwhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/408330/nekton] [] [] BOOK: Practice Hall Earth Science BOOK: Encyclopedia O [|www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep6e.htm] [|sciencecastle.com/sc/ index.php/articles/view/34]