How to Use water flea in a Sentence

water flea

noun
  • The spiny water flea was first identified in North American in 1984 in Lake Huron.
    Popular Science, 17 Feb. 2021
  • Other invaders arrived by the same route as the spiny water flea, in the ballast tanks of oceangoing freighters.
    Tim Folger, Environment, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Bythotrephes, a water flea with a long, spiny tail, eats other zooplankton and competes with fish for food.
    Jason Treat, Magazine, 17 Nov. 2020
  • The researchers also tested water that had been brewed with the plastic tea bags on water fleas.
    Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Some of the key species of concern are zebra and quagga mussels, Eurasian water milfoil and spiny water fleas.
    Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 June 2018
  • Spice up your mating life with these relationship tips from sharks, lizards and water fleas.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Smithsonian, 28 Mar. 2017
  • Rather than the acidity of the water, carbon dioxide itself seems to be affecting the water fleas.
    Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Andrei Savitsky's video of a water flea giving birth to cubs won third place in the competition.
    Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Aug. 2021
  • Peshkin’s own research focuses on the water flea, Latin name Daphnia, an insect barely visible to the naked eye.
    Karen Weintraub, BostonGlobe.com, 23 June 2018
  • Their numbers have been decimated by a fierce invasive predator, the spiny water flea.
    Tim Folger, Environment, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Perch have also been suspending well off the lake bottom to feed on invertebrates such as spiny water fleas, midge larvae and mayfly larvae, rather than minnows.
    D'arcy Egan, cleveland, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Euplotes skitters nimbly along surfaces atop cirri like some sort of Close Encounters–class water flea.
    Jennifer Frazer, Scientific American, 22 May 2021
  • The authors note that populations of small water fleas in the genus Daphnia, an important species in the lake food web, have declined precipitously since use of DDT began.
    Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 15 June 2019
  • As part of their study, the McGill team exposed water fleas, small aquatic organisms formally known as Daphnia magna, to various doses of microplastics and nanoplastics leached from tea bags.
    Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 28 Sep. 2019
  • But less welcome critters soon followed: sea lampreys, alewives, spiny water fleas, and the poster bivalves for ecological trouble, zebra and quagga mussels.
    Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3 July 2018
  • The yellow perch seem to be suspending in deeper water, feeding on water fleas and ignoring perch rigs tipped with emerald shiner minnows, historically a slam dunk bait for catching a 30-fish limit of perch.
    D'arcy Egan, cleveland.com, 9 Aug. 2019
  • In this alternative state, predation is high, so minnow numbers are curbed; this allows water fleas to thrive (which suppresses algae) and bass hatchlings to reach maturity.
    Quanta Magazine, 18 Nov. 2015
  • Biologists have noticed a distinct diet shift, with perch foraging on invertebrates such as spiny water fleas and midge and mayfly larvae instead of emerald shiner minnows and other small fish.
    D'arcy Egan, cleveland.com, 13 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'water flea.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: