Zooplankters are the diverse, delicate and often very beautiful
assemblages of animals that drift in the waters of the world
oceans. The name zooplankton is derived from the Greek:
Zoon, animal; planktos, wandering. They play a key role
in the marine food web by transferring the organic energy
produced by the unicellular algae to higher trophic levels such
as pelagic stocks. Because of their critical role as food source
for larval and juvenile fish, the dynamics of zooplankton
populations, their reproductive cycles, growth and survival
rates are all important factors influencing recruitment of
fish stocks and thereby the magnitude of fishery. Majority
of them are microscopic, unicellular or multicellular forms
with size ranging from a few microns to a millimeter or
more. In addition to size variations, there are differences
in morphological features and taxonomic position. The
zooplankton plays an important role to study the faunal biodiversity
of aquatic ecosystems
