Copepods

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4. Questions - Got a question about Copepods then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

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6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Copepods wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

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8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Copepods site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Copepods, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Copepods, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Taxobox| color = pink| name = Copepod| image = copepodkils.jpg| image_width = 250px| regnum = Animalia]a| subphylum = Crustacean| classis = Maxillopoda, 1840| subdivision_ranks = Orders| subdivision =[Calanoida
Cyclopoida
Gelyelloida
Harpacticoida
Misophrioida
Monstrilloida
Mormonilloida
Platycopioida
Poecilostomatoida
Siphonostomatoida-->

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every fresh water habitat (ecology) and they constitute the biggest source of protein in the oceans Biology of Copepods.Many species are planktonic, but more are benthos, and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial 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. Many live underground in marine and freshwater caves, sinkholes, or stream beds. Some copepods are parasite (in Korean with English abstract) and attach themselves to fish, sharks, marine mammals, and many kinds of invertebrates such as molluscs, tunicates, or corals. Copepods are sometimes used as bioindicators (see particle (ecology)).

Ecology Planktonic copepods are important to global ecology and the carbon cycle; They are usually the dominant members of the zooplankton, and are major food organisms for small fish, whales, seabirds and other crustaceans such as krill in the ocean and in fresh water. Some scientists say they form the largest animal biomass on earth. They compete for this title with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Because of their smaller size and relatively faster growth rates, however, and because they are more evenly distributed throughout more of the world's oceans, copepods almost certainly contribute far more to the secondary productivity of the world's oceans, and to the global ocean carbon sink than krill, and perhaps than all other groups of organisms together. The surface layers of the oceans are currently believed to be the world's largest carbon sink, absorbing about 2 billion tonnes of carbon a year, the equivalent to perhaps a third of greenhouse gas, thus reducing their impact. Many planktonic copepods feed near the surface at night, then sink into deeper water during the day to avoid visual predators. Their moulted exoskeletons, feces pellets and Respiration (physiology) at depth all bring carbon to the deep sea.

Characteristics Copepods are typically 1 E-3 m long, with a teardrop shaped body and large Antenna (biology). Although like other crustaceans they have an armoured exoskeleton, they are so small that in most species this armour, and the entire body, is almost totally transparent. Copepods have a single eye, usually bright red and in the centre of the transparent head. Some polar copepods reach 1 centimetre. Most of the smaller copepods feed directly on phytoplankton, catching cells singly, but a few of the larger species are predators of their smaller relatives. Herbivorous copepods, particularly those in rich cold seas, store up energy from their food as oil droplets while they feed in the spring and summer plankton blooms. These droplets may take up over half of the volume of the body in polar species.

's Kunstformen der NaturMany species have neurons surrounded by myelin, which is very rare among invertebrates (other examples are some annelids and malacostracan crustaceans like Palaemonidae shrimp and penaeids). Even rarer is the fact that the myelin is highly organized, resembling the well-organized wrapping found in vertebrates (Gnathostomata).

Some copepods are very evasive and can jump with extreme speed over a few millimeters (warning: takes some time to load to the correct speed):

(38 mm) feeding on copepods - the fish approach from below and catch each copepod individually. In the middle of the image a copepod escapes successfully to the left.This scene was scanned with the ecoSCOPE, an underwater high speed microscope. Very little is known about the details of these kinds of predator/prey interactions, in spite of their importance for global processes, because copepods are difficult to keep in the laboratory and lose most of their escape capacity, and herring are very fast, alert and evasive organisms and flee from normal camera systems or Scuba diving.

Classification Copepods form a Subclass (biology) belonging to the subphylum Crustacea (crustaceans). Some authors consider the copepods to be a full class (biology). The group contains ten order (biology)s with some 14,000 described species. A scientist that studies copepods is a copepodologist.

Water supply Copepods are sometimes found in the public mains water supply, especially systems where the water is not filtered, such as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. This is not usually a problem in treated water supplies. In some tropical countries, such as Peru and Bangladesh, a correlation has been found between copepods and cholera in untreated water, because the cholera bacteria attach to the surfaces of planktonic animals. The risk of cholera from infected water can be reduced by filtering out the copepods (and other matter), for example with a cloth filter.

References External links

Diversity and geographical distribution of pelagic copepoda
Rudi Strickler copepod videos
The virtual copepod page
Copepod World
Copepods and cholera in untreated water
CNN report: New York Times: The Water's Fine, but Is It Kosher?