Prof. Dr. Otto LARINK is a zoologist. He studied morphology and developmental history of insects (PhD 1968 in Kiel, habilitation 1975 in Braunschweig). Later he was the head of a working group on soil zoology at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, till 2004. During annual courses at the Biological Station on the isle of Helgoland in the German Bight since 1963 and during various visits at European coasts he observed the diversity of plankton organisms and documented them with many micrographs presented here.

Inhalt
Preface of the second edition 6
Preface of the first edition 6
Foreword by the authors - Second edition 7
Foreword by the authors - First edition 7
Introduction
Phytoplankton diversity 9
Zooplankton diversity 10
Pelagic larvae - the meroplankton 10
Life cycles with resting stages 13
Sampling and processing 14
Bacillariophyceae (Diatomeae, Bacillariophyta) 16
Various microalgae: Cyanobacteria. Chlorophyta, Prasinophyceae; Chromista, Prymnesiomonada, and Silicoflagellida; Ebriida 28
Dinoflagellata (Dinophyceae, Pyrrhophyta, Peridineae) 30
Choanoflagellata 38
Foraminifera 38
"Radiolaria" 40
Ciliophora 44
Spirotrichea, Choreotrichia, Tintinnina 48
Porifera 52
Cnidaria 52
Cnidaria, Scyphozoa 56
Cnidaria, Hydrozoa 60
Ctenophora 74
Platyhelminthes 76
Plathyhelminthes, Trematoda, Digenea 78
Nemertea (Nemertini) 80
Mollusca, Gastropoda 82
Mollusca, Bivalvia 88
Sipuncula 90
Annelida, "Polychaeta" 92
Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Cladocera 114
Crustacea, Copepoda 118
Crustacea, Cirripedia 126
Crustacea, Decapoda 130
Crustacea, Peracarida 136
"Rotifera" ("Rotatoria") 140
Phoronida 142
Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) 144
Chaetognatha 146
Hemichordata, Enteropneusta 148
Echinodermata, Asteroida 150
Echinodermata, Ophiuroida 154
Echinodermata, Echinoida 158
Echinodermata, Holothuroida 162
Tunicata (Urochordata) 164
Acrania (Leptocardia, Cephalochordata) 170
Teleostei 172
Miscellaneous 178
Literature 183
Selected internet-addresses of databases with information on marine plankton 185
Index 187