zooplankton

[zoh-uh-plangk-tuh n]

noun

the aggregate of animal or animallike organisms in plankton, as protozoans.

Compare phytoplankton.

Origin of zooplankton

First recorded in 1900–05; zoo- + plankton

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for zooplankton

zooplankton

noun

the animal constituent of plankton, which consists mainly of small crustaceans and fish larvaeCompare phytoplankton

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for zooplankton

1901, from comb. form of Greek zoion "animal" (see zoo) + plankton.

zooplankton in Science

zooplankton

[zō′ə-plăngk′tən]

Plankton that consists of tiny animals, such as rotifers, copepods, and krill, and of microorganisms once classified as animals, such as dinoflagellates and other protozoans.