Pond Critters

A single drop of pond water can hold a whole hidden world. Under a microscope you might spot Daphnia, the jerky-swimming water fleas, alongside spinning rotifers, hair-covered ciliates and glassy diatoms. Not everything here is an animal: diatoms, desmids and green algae make their own food from sunlight, while creatures like copepods and water fleas graze on them, and both become food for tadpoles, insects and small fish.

This category is a field guide to the tiny life of ponds, ideal for school science projects and backyard microscopes. Meet the almost indestructible tardigrades, the stinging, regrowing hydra, and single-celled swimmers such as Euglena, then learn how each one fits into the busy pond food web.