THE Indian Ocean could be harbouring one of the world’s most fertile spots of
open water. The water between the Seychelles and Mauritius, off the east coast
of Africa, is teeming with tiny aquatic animals called zooplankton, Chris
Gallienne from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory told the Royal Geographical
Society conference in London last week.
Zooplankton forms an important part of the oceans’ food chain, and in one
cruise between the islands, Gallienne and his colleagues found more than 500
milligrams of plankton per cubic metre of water. “Certainly it’s among the
highest levels you’d ever find in the open ocean,”…
