A salp is a semi-transparent, gelatinous zooplankton that is part of a group of animals known as sea squirts. It glides through the ocean by pumping water through its body, utilizing one of the most efficient examples of jet propulsion in the animal kingdom. The salp swims alone for a part of its life, but spends the rest with other fellow salps, linking together in chains or colonies that are arranged into beautiful spirals and shapes. Every salp starts its life as a female, then becomes a male but never switches back, and no one knows why. Scientists believe that salps may play a vital role in limiting the effects of climate change, because they produce large, fast-sinking pellets of carbon-rich poop, carrying carbon to the depths of the ocean with them. Their carcasses also act the same way and provide a food source at the sea floor.