Copepods are very important in the food web since many animals eat them. The free-swimming copepods move through the water in jerky motions by moving their swimming legs. Like all crustaceans, copepods molt their exoskeleton as they grow.
Copepods eat bacteria, diatoms, and other tiny, single-celled organisms in the water.
The female copepod produces clusters of eggs that she carries in one or two egg sacs that are attached to her adbdomen.