The plantlike community of plankton is called phytoplankton, and the animal-like community is called zooplankton, but many planktonic organisms are better described as protists.

• 形似植物的种类被称为浮游植物，而形似动物者则被称为浮游动物，但对许多浮游生物而言，更好的称呼则是原生生物。