Plankton , a word loosely meaning to drift, are distributed throughout the lake. Plankton show a distribution pattern that can be associated with the time of day and seasons. Because of their small size, most nannoplankton will pass through the pores of a standard sampling net. Special fine mesh nets can be used to capture larger nannoplankton.
Most planktonic organisms fall into the microplankton or net plankton category.
Nets of various sizes and shapes are used to collect microplankton. The nets collect the organisms by filtering water through fine meshed cloth. The plankton nets on the vessels are used to collect microplankton. The third group of plankton, as associated with size, is called macroplankton. They are visible to the unaided eye.