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Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons ofsmall plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animalsare too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with thecurrents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.Plankton has beendescribed as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one.In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of theland grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the worldproduce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, theseas plankton generates more than twice as much.Despite its enormous foodpotential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farmgrasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the seas resourcesloom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding worldpopulation. No one yet has seriously suggested thatplanktonburgers may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gainingconsiderable interest among marine scientists.One type of plankton thatseems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creaturecalled krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the majorfood for the great blue whale, the largest animal ever inhabit the Earth.Realizing that this whale may grow to100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity,it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krilldaily. | 
