Cyan-Biologist

tangledwing:

Freshwater copepod (Cyclops) female with eggs. Credit: Warren Photographic

Copepods (/ˈkoʊpɪpɒd/; meaning “oar-feet”) are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (drifting in sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), and some continental species may live in limnoterrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds, and puddles, damp moss, or water-filled recesses (phytotelmata) of plants such as bromeliads and pitcher plants.