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Water flea is a generic term for a number of small aquatic
Aquatic animal

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life.Natural environments and the animals that live in them can be categorized as aquatic or terrestrial ecoregion ....
 crustacea characterised by their jumping or jerky mode of swimming. The characteristic of the water flea is that the main part of the body is enclosed by a kind of shell. Most are between 0.1 mm and 3 mm in length.

Most commonly, they will be species of Daphnia
Daphnia

Daphnia are small, planktonic crustaceans, between 0.2 and 5 mm in length. Daphnia are members of the Order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because of their saltation swimming style ....
 but a number of other genera are also commonly included, including Cyclops
Cyclops (genus)

Cyclops is one of the most common genus of fresh water copepods, comprising over 100 species . The name Cyclops comes from the Cyclops of Greek mythology which shares the quality of having a single large eye, which may be either red or black in Cyclops....
, Bosmina
Bosmina

Bosmina is a genus in the order of Cladocera. Males vary in size from 0.4-0.5mm and females vary in size from 0.4-0.6mm. There are more females than males in populations of Bosmina....
 and Diaptomus
Diaptomus

Diaptomus is a genus of copepods with a single eye spot. It is superficially similar in size and appearance to Cyclops . However it has characteristically very long first antenna that exceed the body length....
.






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Encyclopedia


Water flea is a generic term for a number of small aquatic
Aquatic animal

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life.Natural environments and the animals that live in them can be categorized as aquatic or terrestrial ecoregion ....
 crustacea characterised by their jumping or jerky mode of swimming. The characteristic of the water flea is that the main part of the body is enclosed by a kind of shell. Most are between 0.1 mm and 3 mm in length.

Most commonly, they will be species of Daphnia
Daphnia

Daphnia are small, planktonic crustaceans, between 0.2 and 5 mm in length. Daphnia are members of the Order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because of their saltation swimming style ....
 but a number of other genera are also commonly included, including Cyclops
Cyclops (genus)

Cyclops is one of the most common genus of fresh water copepods, comprising over 100 species . The name Cyclops comes from the Cyclops of Greek mythology which shares the quality of having a single large eye, which may be either red or black in Cyclops....
, Bosmina
Bosmina

Bosmina is a genus in the order of Cladocera. Males vary in size from 0.4-0.5mm and females vary in size from 0.4-0.6mm. There are more females than males in populations of Bosmina....
 and Diaptomus
Diaptomus

Diaptomus is a genus of copepods with a single eye spot. It is superficially similar in size and appearance to Cyclops . However it has characteristically very long first antenna that exceed the body length....
. Water fleas are commonly sold as aquarium
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
 food since they are easy to culture and reproduce rapidly. Water fleas are most commonly found in fresh water
Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve....
s of all descriptions although some species are found in brackish waters, and others are found in marine environments. There are probably many hundreds of different species encompassed within the term,Water flea. They mostly eat small algae and microscopic phytoplankton but some are also grazers and detritus feeders.

See also

  • Plankton
    Plankton

    Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
  • Daphnia
    Daphnia

    Daphnia are small, planktonic crustaceans, between 0.2 and 5 mm in length. Daphnia are members of the Order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because of their saltation swimming style ....