Now you have to admit — that orange ostracod is even more amazing than the depth-charge wielding copepod. I mean come on! Had you ever imagined a creature like that could exist? Most ostracods are considerably smaller and are called seed shrimp because of their resemblance to something like a bell pepper seed. The males should get some sort of award for virility; many species have two penises and sperm that can be up to six times the male’s body length when fully uncoiled. The ostracod in this film appears to be  a female, given the clutch of round objects residing in its posterior.

The filmmakers here seem to subscribe to the Star Wars school of foley-artistry: no sound in space? No problem! We’ll just give the spaceships cool sounds anyway (good call). Bioluminescence is silent? No problem! We’ll just give flashing creatures Super Mario-grade sound effects . . .  No offense meant, though, Blue Planet dudes at BBC. I worship your work. Unlike Macgillivray Freeman, who in my opinion have largely squandered the IMAX format with their insultingly stupid and poorly written scripts, in spite of brilliant cinematography . . .

Annnnyway . . . .Copepods and Ostracods are actually fairly closely related, both being Crustaceans. Check out the copepod taxon here, but make sure to check out the next highest taxon, Crustacea, to see how copepods and ostracods fit into it. Jumping down the ostracod hole will take you here.