Pictures of beasts that look as if they come from a science-fiction movie but actually live in their billions off the British coast will be on show in an exhibition that will be touring aquariums around the country.

Plankton, organisms all under two millimetres long, from the sea off the south-west of England have been photographed by Richard Kirby, of the University of Plymouth, and then printed at huge magnification to help explain how the plankton world works. Dr Kirby said: “They account for half of the world’s photosynthesis and help regulate our climate. They also form a food web without which there would be no fish.”

The incredible pictures of plankton reveal the startling truth of life in our seas and may make you think twice about going back into the water next summer.

The pictures show the two types of plankton; phytoplankton, which are plant-like, and zooplankton - animals. The organisms form a food web without which there would be no marine life as we know it. Among the varieties is one of the smallest animals related to humans; the doliolid that has a primitive back bone, called a notochord.

Some of the zooplankton are larvae and include tiny spider crabs, starfish and shrimps which grow into full size creatures. Most fish, including the sardine, spawn their eggs in the plankton as it is such a good place for the young fish to feed. And it is these minute creatures that lure huge basking sharks to our waters in the summer to feed on.

Despite being largely invisible to the naked eye, plankton can be seen from space when they form massive blooms. And it is also responsible for consuming carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, thus reducing the rising levels of the gas in the atmosphere. Dr Kirby said: “Over millions of years dead plankton created our oil and gas reserves and single cell phytoplankton were responsible for the White Cliffs of Dover."

Dr Kirby, a Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth, is now set to unveil the photographs at an exhibition that will be going to Blue Reef, Blue Planet and Deep Sea World aquariums across the country throughout 2009.

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