Parasites often cause changes in the growth and reproduction of their hosts. For example, during parasitic infections, tiny algae-eating crustaceans known as water fleas sometimes become sterile and ...

When the water flea senses predators in its environment, it suits up, growing tail spines, a pointy helmet and other armor. Now, researchers have sequenced the genome of the water flea, providing ...

The water flea species Daphnia pulex is barely more than a millimeter long, is completely translucent, has no clear divisions between their various body parts…and has the largest genome of any animal ...

Biologists sized up an unlikely natural phenomenon: when parasitism actually causes the number of hosts to increase, an effect known as a hydra effect. A study of common water fleas and their fungal ...