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Charles Darwin Foundation Galapagos Species Checklist


Zooplankton

The term plankton refers to an ecological group of organisms that drift in the water column of the oceans and fresh water bodies. Organism that belong to the zooplankton are animals, i.e., they are heterotrophic feeding on other plankton or on detritus.
Most zooplankton species are too small to be seen individually with the naked eye.

Zooplankton is a broad category including a range of different sizes, such as microscopically small protozoans and larger metazoans. Holoplankton complete their entire life cycle as plankton, meroplankton spend part of their life cycle as planktonic larvae, but as adults float near the surface or become anchored.
Even though zooplankton is primarily transported by ambient water currents, many species can actively move to avoid predators or to seek prey.

Many zooplankton species feed on bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, and other zooplankton (some species show cannibalistic feeding behavior), detritus, and even larger free-swimming organisms (the nekton). As a result, zooplankton is found in surface water where food is most abundant.

Author: Nathalia Tirado.

Other Contributors: Rosita Calderón.

Names of taxa included: 200 total (100 accepted, 94 unidentified taxon, 6 doubtful).

Origin of the taxa included: 1 endemic, 14 indigenous.

Zooplankton Species Checklist

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Domain Eukaryota

Kingdom Animalia

Division Annelida

Class Polychaeta

Order Ord. Polychaeta incertae sedis

Order Phyllodocida

Division Arthropoda

Class Malacostraca

Order Amphipoda

Order Decapoda

Order Euphausiacea

Order Isopoda

Order Mysida

Order Stomatopoda

Order Tanaidacea

Class Maxillopoda

Order Calanoida

Order Cyclopoida

Order Harpacticoida

Order Misophrioida

Order Monstrilloida

Order Poecilostomatoida

Order Siphonostomatoida

Class Ostracoda

Order Ord. Ostracoda indet.

Division Chaetognatha

Class Sagittoidea

Order Aphragmophora

Division Chordata

Class Thaliacea

Order Doliolida

Order Salpida

Division Cnidaria

Class Hydrozoa

Order Anthoathecata

Order Leptothecata

Order Narcomedusae

Order Siphonophorae

Order Tachymedusae

Class Syphozoa

Order Coronatae

Order Semaeostomeae

Division Ctenophora

Class Nuda

Order Beroida

Class Tentaculata

Order Cestida

Division Mollusca

Class Gastropoda

Order Gymnosomata

Order Littorinimorpha

Order Nudibranchia

Order Thecosomata

Division Radiozoa

Class Polycystinea

Order Spumellaria

Kingdom Rhizaria

Division Retaria

Class Granuloreticulosea

Order Foraminiferida

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You are welcome to download and use this information acknowledging the origin of the data.
This list should be cited as follows:

Tirado, N. (2011). CDF Checklist of Galapagos Zooplankton - FCD Lista de especies de Zooplancton de Galápagos. In: Bungartz, F., Herrera, H., Jaramillo, P., Tirado, N., Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G., Ruiz, D., Guézou, A. & Ziemmeck, F. (eds.). Charles Darwin Foundation Galapagos Species Checklist - Lista de Especies de Galápagos de la Fundación Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin Foundation / Fundación Charles Darwin, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/checklists/marine-invertebrates/zooplankton/ Last updated 23 Jun 2011.