Appendicularians: Life in a snot bubble!

 

Can you imagine what it would be like if you had to build a new house every day?  Appendicularians can!  In fact, these tiny plankton might discard and re-build their houses 10 times in a single day.  Their discarded houses slowly sink to the bottom of the ocean and many other organisms will live on them as they sink.  But the appendicularians don’t mind building new homes.  Their houses are actually snot bubbles!  They build these houses and live inside them while they float around in the ocean.  They then pull water through their houses and catch their food as it passes through the door.  They invented pizza delivery long before humans did!

 

 

This portion of our website is specifically designed as outreach to the general public.  If you are a scientist look for details about our research, please click on the red 'For Scientists' link on the top right.

 

Contact: Mike Stukel (mstukel@fsu.edu)

Florida State University

Dept. of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science

Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies