Ronald Kopp, age 13, of Provo, Utah, for his question:

What is plankton?

The ocean is a hungry place where big fish eat smaller fish. The smaller fish Dine on still smaller fish, and the smallest of the ocean dwellers dine on plankton. The largest ocean dweller also fseds on plankton. HE is the big blue whale, the Biggest animal who has ever lives on our planet.     Plankton is a seafood salad of meat and vegetables. There is a great variety Of ingredients in this salad, but most of them are too small to be seen without The help of a microscope the most important item in this seafood dish is the Vegetables. They are miniature algae of various kinds. There  are sure to be Diatoms, those one celled plants that cover themselves with embroidered shells. The diatoms and other small algae float in the mineral rich waters of the seas All over the world. They provide food for an endless assortment of one celled Marine animals. The grubby larvae of many fishes also direr upon the salad greens.     In floating plankton small jellyfish, baby shrimp, crabs and barnacles join the party and stuff themselves with plankton greenery. The small algae, the miniature marine animals that dine upon it, plus a variety of floating fish eggs form the basic ingredients in the seafood salad. Schools of Herring and silvery mackerel swarm in to dine on this plankton mixture. Wherever Plankton is plentiful, there we find Larger and still larger fishes.  Huge tunas and savage sharks pursue their prey through the ocean meadows of Plankton. They come to dine on the herring and mackerel. Giant squid COME up from below to compete for their share of mackerel and herring. The plankton is the start of a food chain.  It provides the food for small marine animals which provide the food for larger and still larger sea dwellers.