MARINE 'VACUUM CLEANERS'—Each solitary, fragile, glassy 10-centimeter individual of Salpa thompsoni can produce hundreds of identical offspring when their food is abundant. Salps are planktonic filter-feeders, each one a tireless vacuum continuously clearing phytoplankton cells from the sea by filtering water through a mucus net as it swims. They can occur as individuals (above) or in colonies that form long, connected chains. Bubbles formed in and on this salp when it was caught in cold Southern Ocean water and brought into a lab, where its surrounding water warmed. (Photo by Laurence Madin, WHOI)
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