planktic, a. Biol.
(ˈplæŋktɪk)
[ad. G. planktisch (G. Burckhardt 1920, in Zeitschr. f. Hydrologie I. 190), f. Plankter plankter n.: see -ic 1.]
Planktonic; used to designate an organism that floats or drifts in water, or a stage in the life of an organism when it does this.
| 1962 Zoologiska Bidrag från Uppsala XXXV. 311 The cold-water forms of Synchaeta belong to those planktic rotifers that are most difficult to determine. 1967 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. II. xix. 236 The adjective planktic would be etymologically sounder than planktonic, but usage unequivocally favors the latter. 1978 Nature 26 Jan. 324/2 Shackleton..now believes that because planktic and not benthic foraminifera were analysed for substage 5e in Core V28-238, the isotopic composition may include a temperature effect. 1979 Ibid. 5 Apr. 580/2 Some of the described microfossils may have had a planktic phase in their life cycle. 1988 Biol. Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XXXV. 6 The larva is not equipped for a planktic life. |