The Cyclops Freshwater Copepod
[caption id="attachment_27434" align="alignright" width="480"] Cyclops bicuspidatus. - NOAA[/caption]In Greek mythology, Cyclops was a violent, one-eyed giant humanoid monster. The most famous of them is Polyphemus. He was the son of the Greek god Poseidon and the sea nymph¹ Thoösa. It is that one eye that defines the cyclops. And so a tiny fresh water copepod possessing one eye (sometimes red, sometimes black) is named cyclops as well. Thanks to its small size (0.5 to 2 millimeters) and its jerky movements, it (also the daphnia) has been nicknamed “water flea.” It is instructive to watch this brief video of a male. Description Cyclops feeds on plankton. It thrives in stagnant ponds. It does not require sexual fertilization to reproduce. But it does engage in sexual reproduction during periods of drought to…