water flea meaning and definition

WATER FLEA noun

Definition of water flea (noun)

1. 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 worms
   • synonyms: cyclops
2. minute freshwater crustacean having a round body enclosed in a transparent shell; moves about like a flea by means of hairy branched antennae
   • synonyms: daphnia