Marine life appeared in the form of fish, which live exclusively in water. Some of these evolved into amphibians which spend portions of their lives in water and portions on land. Other fish evolved into land mammals and subsequently returned to the ocean as seals, dolphins or whales. Plant forms such as kelp and algae grow in the water and are the basis for some underwater ecosystems. Plankton, and particularly phytoplankton, are key primary producers forming the general foundation of the ocean food chain. Marine invertebrates exhibit a wide range of modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters including breathing tubes (see
Freshwater crab where the eggs hatch as juveniles, with the larval stages passing within the egg. The broods comprise only a few hundred eggs (compared to hundreds of thousands for marine crabs) each of which is quite large, at a diameter of around . The colonisation of fresh water has required crabs to alter their water balance; freshwater crabs can reabsorb salt from their urine, and have various adaptations to reduce the loss of water. In addition to their gills, freshwater crabs have a "pseudo-lung" in their gill chamber that allows them to breathe in air. These developments have pre-adapted freshwater crabs