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Common name: Pennella balaenopterae
Scientific name: Pennella balaenopterae

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Order: Maxillopoda
Family: Pennellidae
Genus: Pennella
Species: P. balaenopterae 

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Pennella balaenopterae is a Genus of marine animals. They are found in the Antarctic seas and the Western and Northern Pacific Ocean. The hosts of Pennella balaenopterae are the Sie and Minke Whales. Pennella balaenopterae may get up to 30 centimeters long, and is one of its largest species in its family. Even though Pennella balaenopterae does not hurt humans it leaves scares and legions on the surface of there blubber.

There scientific classifications are kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Subphylum: Crustacea, Class: Maxillopoda, Order: Siphonostomatoida, Family: Pennellidae, Genus: Pennella.

Copepods can sense many things. My copepod has bristles that respond to flowing water. They can sense predators and there prey. Copepods are important to global ecology and the carbon cycle. They also feed directly on phytoplankton.

My Copepod is parasitic, it lives on whales, the female is the parasitic in one, and the male is free swimming, females use intermediate host such as flat fish. Some scientist says that copepods grow the form the largest animal biomass on earth. Copepods are usually 1 to 2 millimeters (0.04 to 0.08)

My animal is a solitary species. It is a loner. The female extends deep into the blubber sucking blood from it host. Copepods also have an exoskeleton. The copepods are so small that the thin body of armor and all the body are transparent. Copepods also have a rounded beak head and are a Varity of sensory capabilities.

Author: Bailey J.
Date published: 04/2013

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Picture credit: http://ukmoths.org.uk/images/hires/0549ColeophoraPennellaKT.jpg

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