Plankton net

A plankton net is a fine-meshed net that can be used to fish plankton out of the water.

In order to obtain samples of aquatic microorganisms, it is not enough to take a water sample with a beaker, because the mostly low concentration makes it unlikely to find test material under the microscope.

It is cheaper to filter the water several times through a fine-meshed plankton net. Only in the last pass do you open the inlet to the cup at the end of the net, where all suspended matter collects. Enrichment is also possible if you slowly pull the net through the water. If the movement is too fast, a backwater builds up in the network and only small amounts of water pass through the filter.

Simple plankton nets have a mesh size of 100 µm, see microphoto in the picture on the right. In very fine gauze , also called Müller gauze , it is ≤ 50 µm.

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  Plankton net with a 100 ml beaker

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  Use of the plankton network at the Großer Stechlinsee