Name
Greek: kope = hit; pus, podus = foot.
Geographic Distributions/Epidemiology
Worldwide on fresh and salt water fish.
Morphology/Life Cycle
This group of ectoparasites of fish belongs to the lower crustaceans with the typical nauplius larva, which possess one eye and claws (transformed antennae) to attach at the surface of fish (Fig. 1). The anterior ends may also penetrate deeply into the body of fish (Fig. 2). The following families include important parasites:
Diagrammatical representation of a typical Ergasilus sp. female (family Ergasilidae). ES egg sack
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mehlhorn, H. (2015). Copepoda. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_699-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_699-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27769-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences