Knowra Copepod Copepod A small crustacean in the subclass Copepoda, found in marine and freshwater habitats. Copepods are abundant planktonic animals and major consumers and prey in aquatic food webs.
Crustacean : An arthropod with a segmented body, paired jointed limbs, and a hard external skeleton. Copepods belong to this broader group, though they lack the conspicuous size and armor of many familiar crustaceans.
Copepod feeding : The ways copepods capture and consume particles, algae, or other small organisms. Feeding strategies range from filtering suspended particles to actively hunting prey.
Zooplankton : The drifting animal community in aquatic environments, including small animals and the larval stages of larger ones. Copepods are among the most abundant and ecologically influential members of zooplankton.
Phytoplankton : Photosynthetic microorganisms that drift in aquatic environments. Many copepods graze on phytoplankton, channeling its production to larger animals.
Maxillopoda : A traditional grouping of crustaceans that includes copepods and several other lineages. Copepods were historically classified within this group, though its status as a natural group is disputed.
Copepod swimming : Copepod locomotion produced by coordinated movements of their appendages. Short bursts of swimming help copepods escape predators and move through water.
Marine food web : The network of feeding relationships among organisms in the ocean. Copepods transfer energy from microscopic producers to fish and other larger predators.
Krill : Small, shrimp-like marine crustaceans that form dense swarms and feed many ocean predators. Krill occupy a similar planktonic role but are generally larger and belong to a different crustacean lineage.
Nauplius : An early crustacean larva with a simple body and three pairs of appendages. Most copepods begin life in this larval form before developing adult body segments.
Copepod life cycle : The sequence of egg, naupliar, copepodid, and adult stages in copepod development. Several molts separate the swimming larval stages from the reproductive adult.
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