WattSearch
Your WattLeaderboard
Language
Autoplay narration
Appearance

Feedback

Have a question or an idea? Something not working? Send us a message.

What would you like to share?
Up to 3 files, 5 MB each, 12 MB total.
Or contact us directly
Telegram · @xt0tam

Direct contacts open a separate chat or email. Files attached here are not included.

arohalya@gmail.com
A little wonder, every day

Phytoplankton powers the ocean food web

NASA satellite view of a phytoplankton bloom in the North Atlantic.
Nannochloropsis phytoplankton sample seen at 40× magnification.
Concept illustration of phytoplankton and marine food-web levels.
1 / 3

NASA satellite view of a phytoplankton bloom in the North Atlantic.

Listen to fact0:00 / —

The ocean food web begins with tiny living organisms, not with seawater itself. In sunlit surface waters, phytoplankton use sunlight for photosynthesis and need dissolved nutrients to grow. Zooplankton eat them, and energy then passes to fish and other animals.

Seawater does contain dissolved mineral nutrients, but those are not the same as protein food. The claim that one milliliter of seawater contains 1.5 grams of protein is impossible: that much protein would outweigh the entire sample, since a milliliter of seawater weighs only about a gram.