Candona suburbana ( Ostracod ) is a very interesting creature. You may think it is a blob and or a clam, but some call it a seed shrimp. They live beneath the sediment of oceans, lakes, streams, ponds, etc. You can usually find this animal in Europe or North America. Try going in your pool and looking because you might find a couple swimming on the bottom of your pool.

This animal can range from 1 millimeter but varies between 0.2 to 30 millimeter in size. To adapt to new place there bodies flatten side to side and are protected by a bivalve for a little- like a chitinous or shell. Ostracods consists of a head, thorax and typically do not have gills. Instead they take oxygen through  branchial plates on the surface of its body. The head is the largest part of its body and have several sensitive hairs on the body and contain a single eye.

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Now lets talk about there where they are placed on the food web, what is there ICUN status and the population. They serve In a very important link between they algae and fish for the food web. They are considered red list of Threatened species which is considered that they are endangered of being extinct. With only 50,000 ostracods left, they are shrinking by population. Now lets talk about there diet and eating process with some predators.

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Finally, Ostracods are parasitic at some points which mean they tend to become carnivores. They specifically eat algae, dead animals, and in some variations small snails/worms. They compete with plankton and algae for food depending on the size they are. They live under sediment in the ocean so it makes it hard for Rough skinned newts, cuspidaiidae, and fish to eat them but if they aren’t in sediment they a goner.

As you can see these is actually a very interesting group of endangered animals. If you ever find one try to keep it as a pet(if you can find it first). If you want to see more search up some sites on Google or bing. Well now you have learned about ostracods!

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Author: Tristyn B
Date Published: 04/2013

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Sources:
Picture source: neurodojo.blogspot.com