Transparent Animals May Play Overlooked Role in the Oceans

Beginning of article

Salps don't get much respect. They've been around for millions of years, but hardly anyone even knows they exist.

Even many who have heard about these transparent, jellylike creatures consider them a dead end in the ocean food web: They cruise around, vacuuming up microscopic plants, but don't get eaten by other animals, making them a marine equivalent of inedible cows.

But in the May issue of Deep-Sea Research, scientists report that salps may play an important and overlooked role in determining the fate of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the ocean. Swarming by the billions in salp "hot spots," they transport tons of carbon per day from the ocean surface to the …