Have you ever seen a salp before? Do you have any idea how helpful they are to us all? Well, salps help reduce the carbon levels in the water and in the air. Salps are planktonic tunicates that feed off CO2 in the water, pumping it through their transparent bodies.
What are salps you might be asking yourself. Well, salps are classified in the Phylum chordata; they are related to all the animals with backbones. Sinking fecal pellets and bodies of salps carry carbon to the sea floor.
Salps are abundant enough to have great effects on the ocean floor, which may alter the ocean’s carbon cycle, and potentially play a role in climate change.