Show threadearthlingOct 16

Marine copepod are small aquatic crustaceans.

Photograph: Zachary Sanchez/Nikon Small World

#photomicrography
#copepods
#crustaceans

Plazi SpeciesAug 15, 2025

#NewSpecies!
New copepod from #southchinasea just surfaced:

Monstrilla pseudograndis

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/9851EEA4-949C-5DAF-9365-08704BAE1098
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1232.144830
#ZooKeys #MonstrillaPseudograndis

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #arthropods #crustacea #copepods #zooplankton

Show threadHeliographJul 5, 2025
@RichardAshwell πŸ‘€ quite the creature #copepods
michaelJun 27, 2025

27-Jun-2025
Tiny ocean migrants play a massive role in #SouthernOcean #carbonStorage

A groundbreaking study has revealed that small but mighty #zooplanktonβ€”including #copepods, #krill, and #salpsβ€”are key players in the Southern #Ocean’s ability to absorb and store #carbon.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1089054 #science #ecology #climateCatastrophe

Tiny ocean migrants play a massive role in Southern Ocean carbon storage

A new study has revealed for the first time that zooplankton migration contributes significantly to carbon sequestration in the Southern Oceanβ€”a process overlooked in climate models.

EurekAlert!
Warren Currie 🦠🦐Jun 21, 2025
Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Did you know some #copepods can "porpoise" out of the water, even though they are only mm sized? The forces required for them to break the significant surface tension of the water is enormous, 10x larger than other animals scaled to size. This requires swimming escape velocities > 1 m/s!
Surface dwelling copepods (neustonic) doing this is one thing, but so can pelagic ones. Full paper in link πŸ“•.
#science #oceans #MarineBiology
https://www.oceanlifecentre.dk/news/nyhed?id=b2d38ca9-df5f-4c7d-b4c2-320cd3c16890
Warren Currie 🦠🦐Jun 14, 2025
Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Mating by copepods is a complicated process since they are always at risk of predation by other plankton or fishes. Male #copepods carefully mechanically and chemically track a receptive female, capture them, and deposit an adhesive spermatophore near the genital opening, all assisted with their specially modified antennae. The "bent" geniculate antenna in Calanoids are usually characteristic for identification.
#science #zooplankton
Warren Currie 🦠🦐May 10, 2025
Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
I've always been impressed by this video from New Scientist about #copepods, the planet's most abundant multicellular organism, with interviews from several UK universities, including Exeter and Southampton. Prof Daniel Mayer & others give a lovely explaination on why these #zooplankton, and their poo, are so important to the #ocean ecosystem and #carbon cycling, and why #ClimateChange size shrinkage could have such an impact. #Science πŸŽ₯
https://youtu.be/60DRMH9QdV4
Why zooplankton are the oceans carbon storage heroes

YouTube
Warren Currie 🦠🦐Oct 26, 2024
Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Some #copepods have resin and silica lined "opal" teeth called gnathobases - which is a great word! These hardened mandibles are used to crunch open the silica frustules of #diatom algae (viewed as co-evolutionary pressure). They are replaced at molt, but adults only get the one set, and they wear down. Eventually, they must settle for #feeding on less crunchy diatoms, smaller cells, or the softer cellulose covered dinoflagellates.
#Science
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407876121
Warren Currie 🦠🦐Jul 6, 2024
Weekend #Plankton #Factoid🦠🦐
#Neuston refers to organisms that live at the interface between water and air. They can float on the surface like by-the-wind sailors, use #water tension like water striders, or live near the surface like Pontellid #copepods. Many of these organisms use bright blue astaxanthin pigment for protection from #UV radiation. They are patchily distributed and are an oasis of biomass in low productivity #oceans, yet are still poorly studied. #science
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/30/neuston-sea-creatures-ocean-surface-science-study
Neuston, we have a problem: why do we know so little about the creatures floating on the ocean surface?

They withstand ocean storms, extreme heat and may impact everything from coral reefs to the deep sea. Why has it taken so long to pay attention to the neuston?

The Guardian
Lukas VFN πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊJul 3, 2024

Whale sharks given a health check with #ultrasound imaging technique https://phys.org/news/2024-07-whale-sharks-health-ultrasound-imaging.html

Internal organs and body tissues of free-swimming whale sharks imaged using underwater ultrasound https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1285429/full

"when they started to scrape the parasitic #copepods off their lips, the whale #sharks slowed down, hung vertically in the water and treated them like giant cleaner #fish... While the #WhaleSharks were in this position, the researchers were able to use underwater ultrasound"

Whale sharks given a health check with ultrasound imaging technique

An international team of researchers has discovered a new method of imaging free-swimming whale sharks using underwater ultrasound.

Phys.org