Plankton includes organisms from species across all the major biological kingdoms, ranging in size from the microscopic (such as bacteria, archaea, protozoa and microscopic algae and fungi[4]) to larger organisms (such as jellyfish and ctenophores).[5] This is because plankton are defined by their ecological niche and level of motility rather than by any phylogenetic or taxonomic classification.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton

Both/and, neither/nor! Nature is mind-boggling!

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 10 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes, dinoflagellates are just one type of plankton, and "plankton" isn't a taxonomic term at all. (There are slightly more specific terms, like "zooplankton" which indicates the animal kingdom, but the actual word "plankton" is based on locomotion.)

Edit: I forgot to mention, because this might traumatize someone into realizing they have no idea what the character Plankton from SpongeBob is: Plankton, the character, is a copepod with a single ("naupliar", in the terminology of crustaceans) eye. That could be a bunch of different copepods; it's hard to say.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Where can I learn more?!

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

For starters, I've been writing about marine crustaceans on and off for some years, and for raw taxonomical information, the best resource to me, bar none, is the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). This is going to use official taxonomical names and classifications, so that's best-reserved as a place to learn where an organism is within the tree of life as we understand it today, but the nitty-gritty specifics of where the organism falls might not make sense to you if you're not familiar with that specific area. I don't really recommend going into it hoping to learn general facts about marine biology en masse, and most of that information will be on places like Wikipedia anyway (WoRMS is just sometimes more up-to-date). Wikipedia will tend to be more user-friendly with broader information; the infobox at the top of each taxonomic article gives a placement within the tree of life.

At the bottom of that plankton article (desktop version) is what's called a navbox that has relevant links to articles about different types of plankton.

If you want to check out cool pictures of specific groups, I recommend iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons (iNaturalist especially, as much of Commons' content is from there and it's generally well-reviewed for accuracy).

Those are three general resources, but it's hard to point in a specific direction without a more specific goal.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I think I meant to save a comment from you before and forgot, then couldn't find it. What a serendipitous twist life takes, sometimes! Thank you! 😊

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

No problem! If you come across something interesting related to marine biology, I probably can't answer it, but if you DM me, I can probably get you in the right direction.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 11 hours ago

You are a jewel among gems.