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Dr. Linda Weiss,Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology,
Linda.Weiss@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
The water fleas’ defences against different predators
Swimming Survivors
Any creature that measures barely a millimetre and is a much sough-after meal of many fish does not figure highly on the survival scale. Or so one might think. However, various water flea species have a huge arsenal of defence mechanisms at their disposal, those including neck teeth, crowns of thorns, and elongated tails, to name but a few. Depending on the predators they share their habitat with, these aquatic survivors have developed a wealth of different defence mechanisms. Researchers at the Department of Animal Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity study the way these mechanisms work.
