The 23rd chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Egg carriers”.
Copepods are among the most abundant animals in the aquatic ecosystems. Some studies reported that its biomass in the ocean is bigger than the total biomass of the rest of the marine animals. These tiny crustaceans are not exclusively marine. Almost every fresh water mass, from lakes to the water secluded into the bromeliads (those plants growing over the trees in the rainforest), can be colonized by copepods. One of the most amazing characteristics of copepods is that females carry their eggs in egg-sacs during the complete embryonic development period. From these eggs will hatch small larvae called nauplius that, after some moult episodes, will become adult copepods.
This is the 23rd chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.
We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.
Science into Images’s team.