Copepods
Distinguishing Features: They have a pair of long antennae, a torpedo shaped body, they carry eggs that look like sacks of grapes, and have one tiny eye that's often red.
Size: 1-5mm long
Swimming Behavior: Hop-like motion using antennae
Diet and Feeding: Consume phytoplankton, other zooplankton (rotifers and cladocerans), and other floating material (pollen, detritus, bacteria, larvae) using legs to grasp food.
Reproduction: Sexual; They go through 12 molts: 6 in the nauplii stage and 6 in the copepodid stage.
Fun Facts: Males have bent antennae where females have straight ones, cyclopoids carry two egg sacks where calanoids carry one.
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Diaptomus ashlandi
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Mesocyclops edax
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Cyclops bicuspidatus thomasi
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Acanthocyclops vernalis
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Eucyclops agilis
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Eurytemora affinis
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Tropocyclops prasinus m.
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Diaptomus minutus
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Diaptomus oregonensis
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Diaptomus sicilis
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Diaptomus siciloides
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Epischura lactustris
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Limnocalanus macrurus
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Senecella calanoides
What you might see under the microscope because they appear different when they're on their side versus their back.
Taxonomic Groups Observed in Seneca Lake:
Most Common During: Year-round