Homoplankton: Jialing Cai's Underwater Photography Champions Zooplankton Conservation

Jialing Cai is a Chinese underwater photographer with a Master's in Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University. She’s based in New York City, where she has been practicing underwater photography since 2017. Cai works under the name Homoplankton, where she creates underwater photographs of the curious world of zooplankton. She does this to educate the public and advocate for the conservation of these important and beautiful, yet often overlooked beings.

Photograph of a Chordata zooplankton by Jialing Cai, part of the Homoplankton series. Image courtesy of Homoplankton’s website.

Her work’s title, Homoplankton, references the scientific name of the human species, Homo sapiens. Cai deliberately made this choice to underline the complex lives and environmental impact that zooplankton have, one that is comparable to the human species. The project’s title is also an allusion to how Cai ascribes characters and personalities to the zooplanktons she photographs. This move allows her to share more about the class of animals in an easy-to-digest and relatable way.

Photograph of a Cnidaria zooplankton by Jialing Cai, part of the Homoplankton series. Image courtesy of Homoplankton’s website.

Cai uses a storytelling approach to entice the public into learning about the lives of zooplankton. She wishes to familiarize them with how they sustain so much ocean life, feeding everything from the common snapper to Baleen Whales. Yet today, human activity is encroaching on their natural habitat, putting their biodiversity at risk. If left unattended, as a snowball effect, so much ocean diversity hangs in the air. This is why Cai’s Homoplankton project is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life Below Water.

Photograph of a Crustacea zooplankton by Jialing Cai, part of the Homoplankton series. Image courtesy of Homoplankton’s website.

In a 2023 study published on Nature.com, a global 16 percent decline of zooplankton biomass has been observed. These numbers may not seem like much, but they have also translated into an apple-to-apple 16 percent decline in fish diet, increasing competition amongst fish schools and effectively reducing their population. The leading cause behind zooplankton death has been the death of phytoplanktons (their main food source), rising ocean water acidity, and large shifts in ocean water temperatures. All of these causes have been the direct consequences of climate change, in conclusion, yet another negative outcome of unchecked human consumption and production activities.

Photograph of a Ctenophora zooplankton by Jialing Cai, part of the Homoplankton series. Image courtesy of Homoplankton’s website.

Even if Cai does not take the time to share the stories of these microscopic animals, her photographs of them appear ethereal. Their black backgrounds, purposefully used to make them visible in the ocean water, give their viewers the same calming and hypnotic quality that they would get when gazing at a jellyfish tank at the aquarium. It would be a great shame to see these elusive yet magnificent beings die out as a by-product of human activity. Their otherworldly beauty sustains much of the world’s marine biodiversity, holding the ecosystem’s balance in the palm of their hands.

Find out more about Homoplankton by Jialing Cai and their other initiatives by checking their Instagram on @homoplankton.