meroplankton

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Meroplankton are a wide variety of aquatic organisms which have both a planktonic stage and at least one other component, such as benthic or nektonic, in their life cycles. Much of the meroplankton consists of larval stages of larger organisms. Meroplankton can be contrasted with holoplankton, which are planktonic organisms that stay in the pelagic zone as plankton throughout their entire life cycle.