Marine life live in the water column of large bodies of water and that cannot swim against a current. They provide a crucial source of food to many large aquatic organisms, such as fish and whales. These organisms include drifting or floating bacteria, archaea, algae, protozoa and animals that inhabit, for example, the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Essentially, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than any phylogenetic or taxonomic classification. Though many planktonic species are microscopic in size, "plankton" includes organisms covering a wide range of sizes, including large organisms such as jellyfish. The
National Collection of Industrial Food and Marine Bacteria National Collection of Industrial Food and Marine Bacteria The National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria (NCIMB) is a culture collection in the United Kingdom consisting of microorganisms from environmental samples (particularly marine bacteria) as well as bacteria involved in the production or spoilage of food and drink, and bacteria with important industrial properties. It is a large reference collection and has over 10,000 deposits. Deposits to the collection can be made for research purposes (for example to name a new species), or for inclusion into patent submissions. Prior to 1982 the collection was one of a number of