Daphnia Pulex are freshwater crustaceans which feed off of free floating algae,fungi and bacteria. Daphnia procreate by parthenogenesis or in other words without fertilization when enough food is available.This is a type of asexual reproduction and the daughter daphnia are the exact genetic copy of the parent itself. Any DNA changes is from environmental factors. They give birth to 10 at a time starting at 3 days old. This cycle goes on for approximately 25 times in their lifetime and they all are females. If food is scarce or it is close to winter then they will produce eggs which they fertilize to be male. They then sexually reproduce and the eggs remain in suspension until spring.
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