Waterflea

From Great Lakes Wiki

Water flea

Scientific: Cercopagis pengoi

Also known as: Fishhook water flea

Lives in these Great Lakes: All of them

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The water flea originated where the Asia, Europe, and the Middle East meet. The species is considered one of the World Worst invaders. They cause a lot of problems for fishermen. They are fierce carnivores. They fight against other species that live in the lakes. This may in turn help some of the fish in the lakes. They mainly eat crustations and various plankton. They have antennae, an abdomen, four legs, and caudal process. The females have a brood pouch unlike the males. Strangely, they only have one giant eye. They grasp their food with their thoracopods. Then they break open them with their mandables. After that they suck out the insides of their prey. The females create eggs in their brood patch. Then they leave 1 to 4 eggs. They create 1-24 embryos.

Information reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishhook_waterflea#Habitat_description

--69.210.30.235 23:01, 3 Dec 2006 (EST)