"Exploding" Water Flea.

[specious_reasons]

I didn't know what was gong on until it was too late, so I didn't see this first hand, but I saw the stage just before, and I took pictures of the stage right after....

I caught a water flea in the process of creating a diapause. What I didn't realize is that the water fleas basically self-destructs after this! The first thing that came to mind was that the water flea exploded.






This was what the water flea sacrificed itself to make. It's surprisingly opaque.

[leonardturner]

Intriguing images; this expands my understanding of diapause.

[Clado]

A waterfea does not necessary die after producing an ephippium. After setting free the ephippium by moulting they can survive and revert to partenogenetic reproduction if the environmental conditions are good.

[specious_reasons]

A waterfea does not necessary die after producing an ephippium. After setting free the ephippium by moulting they can survive and revert to partenogenetic reproduction if the environmental conditions are good.

So, "diaphase" is the phase, and "ephippium" is the actual sac? When I looked up "diaphase" it seemed like the right concept, but not necessarily the correct usage.

I can only say what happened here, and it was pretty clear once the water flea set free the ephippium, it died - and quite dramatically.

[Clado]

An ephippium is a protective case for the resting eggs. In the ephippium the eggs,embryos, stop developing (diapause) until the environmental conditions get better.

Worsening of the environmental conditions is often the reason for sexual reproduction, with resting eggs. Some animals die after that but waterfleas not necessarily.