Gallery: Inside the Gorgeous and Mysterious World of Plankton

  • Image may contain Animal Invertebrate Sea Life and Jellyfish
    Christian Sardet
    01

    111 credit Christian Sardet

    The potentially immortal jellyfish can reverse its development, transitioning from an adult back to a polyp.
  • Image may contain Ornament Jewelry Gemstone Accessories Accessory Universe Space Night Astronomy and Outdoors
    Sharif Mirshak, Parafilms
    02

    145 credit credit Sharif Mirshak, Parafilms, Montreal.

    The incredible sapphirina copepod. Normally transparent, when light hits it the right way, [it flashes with brilliant color](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex39GYeLQFk).
  • Image may contain Plant Flower Blossom and Pollen
    Christian Sardet
    03

    181 credit Christian Sardet

    Nudibranchs typically stick to the sea floor, but this little juvenile joins the plankton
  • Image may contain Ornament Jewelry Accessories Accessory and Gemstone
    Sharif Mirshak
    04

    178 credit Sharif Mirshak, Parafilms, Montreal

    A baby squid
  • Shelled mollusks known as pteropods
    Christian Sardet
    05

    169 credit Christian Sardet

    Shelled mollusks known as pteropods
  • Image may contain Musical Instrument Guitar and Leisure Activities
    Christian Sardet
    06

    041 credit Christian Sardet

    A swarm of unicellular protists
  • The unicellular algae Phaeocystis globosa
    Christian Sardet
    07

    44 credit Christian Sardet

    The unicellular algae *Phaeocystis globosa*
  • Solitary diatoms
    Christian Sardet
    08

    59 credit Christian Sardet and Noe Sardet

    Solitary diatoms
  • Image may contain Ornament Tree Plant Christmas Tree Universe Space Astronomy Outer Space Light Flare and Crystal
    Christian Sardet
    09

    81 credit Christian Sardet

    A swarm of radiolarians, plus a cross-shaped acantharian
  • Image may contain Glass Goblet Drink Cocktail Alcohol and Beverage
    Christian Sardet
    10

    087 credit John Dolan, CNRS , Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer

    Tintinnids
  • Image may contain Animal Sea Life Invertebrate and Jellyfish
    Christian Sardet
    11

    105 credit Christian Sardet

    A female jellyfish with pink gonads
  • Image may contain XRay Ct Scan and Medical Imaging XRay Film
    Christian Sardet
    12

    121credit Christian Sardet

    A siphonophore
  • Image may contain Animal
    Christian Sardet
    13

    027 credit Christian Sardet

    A whole mess of creatures, including crab larvae, copepods, and shrimp larvae
  • Shrimp larvae
    Christian Sardet
    14

    141 credit Christian Sardet and Noe Sardet

    Shrimp larvae
  • Image may contain Animal and Invertebrate
    Christian Sardet
    15

    150 credit Christian Sardet

    Panaeid shrimp larva
  • Image may contain Crystal Animal Invertebrate Insect Spider and Arachnid
    Christian Sardet
    16

    155 credit Christian Sardet

    Phronima, a crustacean that attacks gelatinous animals like siphonophores and lives in their hollowed-out bodies.
  • Small mollusks known as heteropods
    Christian Sardet
    17

    173 credit Christian Sardet

    Small mollusks known as heteropods
  • Image may contain Animal Sea Life and Invertebrate
    Christian Sardet
    18

    174 credit Christian Sardet

    The “sea elephant”
  • Image may contain Ice Outdoors Nature and Droplet
    Christian Sardet
    19

    186-187 credit Christian Sardet

    They may not look it, but these chaetognaths are ferocious predators
  • Image may contain Animal Sea Life Plant Invertebrate Fruit Food Pineapple and Insect
    Christian Sardet
    20

    202 credit Christian Sardet

    A pyrosome, which is actually made up of hundreds of separate zooids
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