The Secret Life of Plankton

New videography techniques have opened up the oceans' microscopic ecosystem, revealing it to be both mesmerizingly beautiful and astoundingly complex. Marine biologist Tierney Thys has used footage from a pioneering project to create a film designed to ignite wonder and curiosity about this hidden world that underpins our own food chain.

(Music)

"Stories from the Sea"

"Fish Tale: My Secret Life as Plankton"

(Music)

How did I get here?

Well, it's a stranger story than you might think.

I came from a world of drifters,

a place few humans have ever seen.

The world of plankton.

I came from a batch of a million eggs,

and only a few of us survived.

When I became a larva,

I moved among other drifters.

"Plankton comes from the Greek planktos for wandering"

My fellow plankton came in all sizes,

from tiny algae and bacteria

to animals longer than a blue whale.

I shared my nursery

with other embryos and juveniles,

from clams and crabs to sea urchins and anemones.

(Plankton noise)

We drifting animals are called zooplankton.

The most common animals here

are copepods and krill.

You could search the world over,

but you'd never find a place more diverse than my childhood home.

A teaspoon of seawater

can contain more than a million living creatures.

It can be a pretty tough existence, though.

Trillions are born here,

but only a few make it to adulthood.

He may be no larger than a pin head,

but this crab larva is an arrow worm's worst nightmare.

(Plankton noises)

Epic battles between carnivores like these are just one way to get food.

But the real powers of this place come from phytoplankton:

single-celled life

that transforms sunlight and carbon dioxide into

edible gold.

Phytoplankton are the base for the largest food web in the world.

During the night,

many animals like me would rise up from the depths

to feed on this sun-powered feast.

(Plankton noises)

I was part of the largest daily migration of life on Earth.

During the day,

I'd return to the darkness, where I'd join my bizarre companions.

(Plankton noises)

Cannibals, like this sea butterfly mollusk,

that eats its next of kin.

And comb jellies,

that beat cilia like rainbowed eyelashes.

Some of these snare their prey with sticky tentacles,

while others just take a bite out of their cousins.

And siphonophores

that catch prey with toxic fishing lures.

But my favorite would have to be the crustacean Phronima;

its monstrous looks inspired the movie "Aliens."

It can catch tiny bits in its bristles,

but prefers larger prey like salps.

With two sets of eyes, this female prowls the deeper water.

Prey in hand,

she performs one of the strangest behaviors in the entire animal kingdom.

With body parts from her victims,

she delicately assembles a barrel-like home

feeding her young until they can drift off and survive on their own.

Best of all, they make the perfect snack for a small fish like me.

Here among the plankton,

the food web is so tangled and complex,

even scientists don't know who eats whom.

But I do.

At least now you know a bit of my story.

There's so much more to me than just a tasty meal.