Cyclops (genus)
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- This article is about the crustacean. See Cyclops (disambiguation) for other meanings.
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over 100 |
Cyclops is one of the commonest genera of freshwater copepods, comprising over 100 species <ref>Freshwater copepod crustacean. Micrographia.</ref>. The name Cyclops comes from the Cyclops of Greek mythology which shares the quality of having a single large eye, which may be either red or black in Cyclops.
Cyclops individuals may range from ½–5 mm long and are clearly divided into two sections. The broadly oval front section comprises the head and the first five thoracic segments. The hind part is considerably slimmer and is made up of the sixth thoracic segment and the four legless pleonic segments. Two caudal appendages project from the rear. Alhough they may be difficult to observe, Cyclops has five pairs of legs. The long first antennae are used by the males for gripping the females during mating. Afterwards, the female carries the eggs in two small sacs on her body. The larvae, or nauplii, are free-swimming and unsegmented.
Cyclops has a cosmopolitan distribution in fresh water, and less frequently in brackish water. It lives along the plant-covered banks of stagnant and slow-flowing bodies of water, where it feeds on small fragments of plant material, animals or carrion. Cyclops has the capacity to survive unsuitable conditions by forming a cloak of slime.
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<references/>de:Hüpferling pl:Oczlik
