Research shows copepods use pheromones to find mates
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 15:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) —Copepods are tiny crustaceans, only millimeters long. Distributed sparsely in sea and fresh water, hundreds of body lengths may separate them. Oceanographer Laurent Seuront and biological physicist H. Eugene Stanley wanted to know how these small creatures find mates, as it would be unlikely for them to bump into each other accidently. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they determined that copepods change their movement patterns in response to pheromones produced by the opposite sex.