Noun: water flea wo-tu(r) flee
- Minute freshwater crustacean having a round body enclosed in a transparent shell; moves about like a flea by means of hairy branched antennae
"Water fleas are visible as tiny jumping dots in pond water";
- daphnia
- Minute free-swimming freshwater copepod having a large median eye and pear-shaped body and long antennae used in swimming; important in some food chains and as intermediate hosts of parasitic worms that affect man e.g. Guinea worms
"Water fleas are barely visible to the naked eye";
- cyclops
Derived forms: water fleas
Type of: branchiopod, branchiopod crustacean, branchiopodan, copepod, copepod crustacean
Part of: genus Cyclops, genus Daphnia
Encyclopedia: Water flea