Cephalocarids: Cephalocarida - Behavior And Reproduction

Cephalocarids swim and burrow through the muck by using their limbs. They sometimes fold their bodies in half to clean themselves.

Cephalocarids are hermaphrodites (her-MAE-fro-daits), with individuals having both male and female reproductive organs. Eggs are carried by small appendages on the midbody. The hatching cephalocarid is eyeless and has only three pairs of functional limbs, all located on the head. This is one of its three stages as a larva (LAR-vuh), or young animal that must go through changes in form before becoming an adult. As the larvae (LAR-vee; plural of larva) grow and molt, or shed their exoskeletons, additional body segments and limbs are added.