The_observer said:
I have a bucket of water in my backyard for my dog to drink.
It tends to get a bit of micro algae growing on the plastic sides & bottom. that’s ok, it filters the water a bit..
The other day it was half empty & I was going to top it up when I saw several wriggily things, about 4 mm long swimming about.
I don’t think they were mosquito lave, but I tipped the water out without investigating .
Could it have been copepods by any chance?
Extremely unlikely. Worms or insect larvae are the most likely. Mosquito wrigglers most likely of all.
The reason I say unlikely is based on the life cycle of the copepod. The eggs of the copepod are most often carried by the female. So for them to develop in a bucket, and adult copepod would have to climb in. The adults live in water or in very wet places, so wouldn’t cross dry areas or be able to climb the sides of a bucket. Even if the eggs are not attached to the female then they are glued together so can’t be blown around by the wind. Also, the chance of a copepod or their eggs being carried by birds to the water bucket is remote.