calanoid copepod

This calanoid copepod is carrying eggs.

Copepods are ecologically important in the ocean food chain, feeding on diatoms and other plankton and, as the largest biomass in the oceans, being food for zooplankton, fish, seabirds, and whales. Most copepods species are free-living in the ocean, found from the surface to great depths.


The long, feathered antennae of calanoid copepods facilitate their drifting in the ocean. Copepod fecal pellets contribute to the marine snow, bringing nutrients and minerals from surface waters to the deep sea.

Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photographs ©Paul Cziko & Uwe Kils. Photograph may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Paul Cziko & Uwe Kils.