| water flea n. Any of various small aquatic crustaceans of the order Cladocera, especially the daphnid, that typically swim with jerking flealike motions. |
water flea
n
(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) any of numerous minute freshwater branchiopod crustaceans of the order Cladocera, which swim by means of hairy branched antennae See also daphnia
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  water flea - 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 wormscopepod, copepod crustacean - minute marine or freshwater crustaceans usually having six pairs of limbs on the thorax; some abundant in plankton and others parasitic on fish genus Cyclops - copepod water fleas |
| 2. |  water flea - minute freshwater crustacean having a round body enclosed in a transparent shell; moves about like a flea by means of hairy branched antennaebranchiopod, branchiopod crustacean, branchiopodan - aquatic crustaceans typically having a carapace and many pairs of leaflike appendages used for swimming as well as respiration and feeding genus Daphnia - water fleas |
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