Don’t forget - it’s the little things that count
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:11 am – Posted by Kirstie_Knowles | 3 Comments
Sea pens reach a height of about 20 centimetres and can be found around Fiordland. Photo: Malcolm Francis.
When we think of life in the ocean we often think of our whales, our dolphins, fish and crayfish – things we can see and things that can see us. But actually the building blocks of life in our sea – that provide us with the oxygen we breathe, absorbs the carbon dioxide we pump into the air and regulates the weather and ocean cycling – is actually invisible to the human eye. They are microscopic. They are our plankton, diatoms and foraminifera. Our what?
Exactly. Seldom do we celebrate the very morsels that the rest of our marine wildlife could not do without. Well here’s our chance.