Great Lakes Invaded — Again

The latest intruder into the Great Lakes was discovered in Lake Ontario last August. Its name may be unfamiliar, but its morphology and its threat to native species are all-too-well known.

The tiny crustacean is called Cercopagis pengoi ("ser-ko-PAGE-iss PENG-goy").

It looks a lot like the spiny water flea (Bythotrephes cederstroemi), but it is smaller and may therefore elude predators better—and perhaps infiltrate North American lakes faster. Its caudal appendage has a distinctive kink or curl and is longer compared with its body length than Bythotrephe’s tail.

Cercopagis is native to the Caspian-Black Sea region and very little literature on it is available in the west. Photos can be seen at www.cs.uwindsor.ca/users/h/hughm/private/cercopagis.html.

- John Karl

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This page created 24 February 1999
Last updated 02 March 1999 Karl
All contents copyright 1999 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

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