The pasture of the sea

Billions and billions of tiny plants and animals live in the ocean. Most of them are so small they can be seen only with a microscope.

These tiny plants aren't like plants you have seen. Some look like square of jelly fastened together in chains. Some look like little balls. Some are like tiny anchors with threads hanging from them.

The tiny animals are strange looking, too. Some look like bells. Some look like light bulbs with six wiggly legs. Some of them are just little round balls. Many of these animals are babies of bigger animals, such as jellyfish.

All these animals and plants float in the upper part of the ocean. They are called plankton. Plankton is the most important food in the sea. It is often called the pasture of the sea.

Many kinds of baby fish eat plankton. So do many grown fish. So do many other sea animals. If suddenly there were no plankton,all these animals would die. And all the animals that eat them for food would then die. Soon there wouldn't be a single living things in any of the oceans.

That's why plankton is the most important food in the sea.