Although phytoplankon can be extremely small (about 1/10 the size of a pencil lead), they provide food for almost every other organism in the lake. Check out some examples below.

Pediastrucholorophyllm (pee-dee-as-trum)

A pediastrum is a collection of small phytoplankton cells that join together in a circular colony. The green color in the picture is chlorophyll.

Crucigenia (Crew-se-gen-ea)

These algae have irregular shapes. They cluster together in groups of four.

Goniumpectorale (go-nee-um-pek-tor-all)

This type of algae uses long filamentous (fil-a-men-tus) stalks to attach to other algae in the water and form small colonies.

Anabaena (anna-bee-na)

Anabaena can form chains hundreds of cells long. The long chains make them unique.