How does life go in a subterranean hole? The milky, slender scud Niphargus would know. This creature has several characteristic features that are often shared by other inhabitants of such habitats (called Troglomorphisms).

Holopedium gibberum has a large mucous sheath that distinguishes it from other water fleas. This gelatinous material is made up of water and carbohydrate compounds. It is excreted by salivary glands within the labrum.

See, a macrophytum! Well, not really, since the specimen fits under the microscope without the panorama stack. If these tiny plants join together and form an almost compact unit, we can't say that. In this case, duckweed negatively affects the life underneath its leaves. The Lemna canopy lowers the level of transmitted light throughout the water...

Many would like to move and operate more efficiently. Hydras go far with this, by depositing tiny algae thalli (among others Chlorella) to cover almost all available space within its own cells. They have been doing it for tens of millions of years. The strategy was original to hydras, albeit the majority of hydra species are not green –...

The cells in the ovaries become capable of producing males as a result of several factors such as deviations in water temperature, dissolved gas concentration, the quality of their diet and also of the photoperiod. Otherwise, during the rest of the year, female water fleas produce only genetically identical daughters of themselves. Under these...

Look at huge adductors and levator muscle visible through the head – (together) they lift the antennae and participate in swimming.

Desmids, where Cosmaria belong, are characterised by their perfect symmetry – it is worth noting that although desmids look like they have two cells, they are unicellular. So one large cell is divided into almost identical semicellls.

Příslušník vláknitých sinic – Oscillatoria – byla pojmenována pro svůj kývavý pohyb. Zatímco většina bakterií vlastní bičíky, které zpravidla slouží k lokomoci, sinice jimi vybaveny nejsou. Jakým způsobem se potom čeleď Oscillatoriaceae aktivně pohybuje? Vylučují slizký potah, po němž buňky sklouznou, přičemž iniciátorem vlastního pohybu se...

Eurycercus lamellatus – is a giant flea. Previous phylogenetic analyses placed this species in the Chydoridae – a group of small, spherical water fleas that live mainly on muddy and sandy bottoms or between plants.