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| Copepods | ||||||||||
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Calanoida Cyclopoida Gelyelloida Harpacticoida Misophrioida Monstrilloida Mormonilloida Platycopioida Poecilostomatoida Siphonostomatoida | ||||||||||
Copepods are small, aquatic animals living in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat, a form of plankton, specifically zooplankton, some copepods are parasitic.
Copepods form a subclass belonging to the subphylum crustaceans (some authors consider the copepods as a full class). The group contains 10 orderss with some 14 000 described species.
Copepods are very important food organisms for small fish, whales and other crustaceans in the ocean. They are typically 1-2 mm long. They feed directly on phytoplankton and catch with their feeding legs single cells from the water. Some scientists say they form the largest biomass on earth. They compete for this title with the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba.
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