Plankton and Seaweed, Ocean Staples
In Plankton and Seaweed, Ocean Staples, narrator Sir David Attenborough explains how the basking shark eats and how the concentration of plankton supports the shark and other animals. Learn how seaweed grows in the waters off British Columbia. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet, a definitive documentary series diving into the mysterious depths of the sea to discover the natural history of the world’s oceans and the rarely seen marine life that reside there.
Lesson Express
Q: How much sea water does a basking shark filter?
A: Every hour, the basking shark filters 1,000 tons of water.
Q: What other animals share the water and the plankton with the basking shark?
A: The invertebrates that live on the seafloor and cover the rocks all trap the plankton as well.
Q: What purpose do the floats serve?
A: They keep the seaweed close to the energy-giving sunlight at the surface of the water.
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