A large class of small crustaceans found in marine and freshwater environments, characterized by rowing-like swimming legs.
From Greek kopeîs (rower, oar) plus poda (feet/legs). Named by the distinctive rowing motion of their antennae and legs, coined in 18th-century scientific nomenclature.
Copepods are to the ocean what insects are to land—they're everywhere, they're the base of almost every food chain, and yet most people have no idea they're the most abundant animals on Earth!
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