UCMP Glossary: Z

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zooplankton -- Tiny, free-floating organisms in aquatic systems. Unlike phytoplankton, zooplankton cannot produce their own food, and so are consumers.

zooxanthellae -- Symbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium that live in the tissues of a number of marine invertebrates and protists, notably in many foraminiferans, cnidarians, and some mollusks.

zygote -- The product of gamete fusion. In organisms with a haploid life cycle, the zygote immediately undergoes meiosis, but in organisms with a multicellular diploid stage, the zygote is merely the first stage in the diploid portion of the life cycle.