The spiny water flea – a nasty, predatory and invasive zooplankton species – was discovered Sept. 16 in Oneida Lake by a Cornell student at the Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point in Bridgeport, New York.
Known to wreak havoc on the aquatic food chain, the flea was discovered by Josh Appel ’22 during routine work in Natural Resources 2100, a field biology class.
Groups of students from the class, taught by senior lecturer Paul Rodewald and research associate Marc Goebel, had collected water samples from Oneida Lake and brought them back to the field station’s lab for analysis, according to Appel.
Read more at Cornell University
Image: The spiny water flea was discovered Sept. 16 in Oneida Lake by a Cornell student at the Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point in Bridgeport, New York. It was found in the normal course of a biological field study class. CREDIT: Cornell University