Chain of salps floating below the sea surface. Salps are a type of tunicate, a phylum of simple animals related to the vertebrates. Salps are found in seas and oceans worldwide, filtering plankton from the water. They have a two_stage life cycle: one stage is solitary, and reproduces asexually to produce the long chains of organisms seen here. These break free and drift with the currents, staying joined together as they feed and grow. The individuals in these chains are hermaphrodites, fertilising other members of the chain, and producing the solitary stage, which buds off the chain. Filmed in Palau.