Copepoda

An order of abundant, free-living, freshwater and marine crustaceans of basic importance in the aquatic food chain in both the marine and freshwater environments; some species are commonly called water fleas. Some are ectoparasites of both cold-blooded and warm-blooded aquatic vertebrates; the parasitic copepods of fish and whales are often highly modified for deep penetration of the skin or for adherence by suckers and hooks ( e.g., the fish lice, Argulus). Certain copepods (Cyclops, Diaptomus) are important as intermediate hosts of the tapeworm Diphyllobothrium latum and of the nematode Dracunculus medinensis. [G. kope, an oar, + pous (pod-), a foot]

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Co·pep·o·da kō-'pep-ə-də n pl a subclass of Crustacea comprising minute aquatic forms abundant in both fresh and salt waters and including one order (Eucopepoda) whose members are chiefly free-living and important as fish food and another order (Branchiura) whose members are parasitic on the skin and gills of fish

co·pe·pod 'kō-pə-.päd n or adj

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Co·pep·o·da (ko-pepґo-də) [Gr. kōpē oar + pous foot] a subclass of minute aquatic arthropods of the class Crustacea; some are intermediate hosts of the nematode Diphyllobothrium and others host the tapeworm Dracunculus; ingestion of copepods infected with the early larval stages of Spirometra mansonoides may cause human sparganosis.