-
Asked by LejaM to Karen E on 12 Apr 2024.
Question: What is the most impactful sea creature?
- Keywords:
-
Karen Edwards answered on 12 Apr 2024:
Sorry it’s taken me so long to answer as I didn’t see this. I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “impactful”. But, certainly species like whales – which were commercially important for hundreds of years but are now a big symbol for us to improve our ocean. It’s the same with other charismatic species (those that people love and find cute) like dolphins and seals – think of the images of polar bears on icebergs. They have a huge impact on human behaviour and our desire to clean up the ocean to protect them.
Comments
Clare commented on :
I guess it depends what you mean by impactful – I think phytoplankton which are tiny (microscopic) plants that grow in the ocean. They produce lots of oxygen via photosynthesis – so are as important as trees for the planet. They also take up loads of carbon and when they die, they sink and this carbon can be locked away deep in the ocean. They are also the base of the food web meaning things eat the phytoplankton, then bigger things eat them and so they support everything that lives in the ocean as well as giving humans food through fish.