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MacroInvertebrates-

There are many different critters that you will find sometimes in activated sludge or lagoons. Depending upon the age of the system- these also can be seen but are usually not very common or as critical as indicator organisms.

Daphnia or water fleas

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class Branchiopoda
Order Cladocera
Family: Daphniidae
Subgenus Daphnia
species: pulex
or
Subgenus Ctenodaphnia
species: magna

Daphnia are small Crustaceans - barely visible with the naked eye. They are usually smaller than 3mm. They look like water fleas. They are usually seen in large lagoon types of wastewater systems. They are one of the most common crustaceans to be found in lakes, ponds and quiet streams. They're not insects at all, but rather are crustaceans, more closely related to crabs and shrimp. They reproduce and carry their eggs in a brood pouch on their backs and hatch live babies.

The EPA uses Cero-Daphnia sometimes in toxicity testing. Daphnia magna are used to measure the toxicity of a chemical compound in water (LD50 measurements). Daphnia are very sensitive to metal ions (manganese, copper and zinc to name a few). Daphnia are also sensitive to pesticides, bleaching agents, detergents, and many other dissolved toxins.

They feed on bacteria, phytoplankton, rotifers, flagellates, ciliates, and detritus. *Daphnia can consume prey sizes from bacteria to rotifers and large ciliates

Many fish hobbyists specifically introduce Daphnia magna to their ponds or aquariums to keep the single celled algae levels minimized since they are filter feeders and eat single celled algae, rotifers and other organisms.

the heart is usually visible in the anterodorsal thorax below the eggs and can be seen visibly pumping	Eggs in sac on the Daphnia mother's backside
	A brood pouch for incubating young that hatch from large yolk filled eggs
	The single large compound eye is covered with lenses, and an ocellus (small black speck) can be seen below the compound eye.


Adult Daphnia	Babies

They have a heart that pushes clear circulatory fluid around the body

daphnia claws and feet

Parts of the legs

No it is not a bird

Look how large it is compared to the rotifer at the posterior end.

This mommy was actually having the babies- they had already developed from the eggs into full grown, well developed baby daphnias

you can see the top part of her sac with the babies inside

Daphnia have well defined organs

Kind of reminds you of a black widow with babies on her back

Here they are hatching from the egg sac

here is the mom with babies in the sac and hatching at 40x

Here is a closer look at 100x

here is a zoom in at 400x, you can see the eyespot through the egg sac membrane

Looks like a black widow spider with babies on her back

These eggs are less developed in this Daphnia than in some of the others

Here is a Daphnia next to a pregnant mystery bug There are some daphnia eggs coming out of her

Locomotion- large 2nd antennae are oars

More to come soon!

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