The water flea Moina macrocopa () (Cladocera: Daphniidae) withstands 100,000 × g in a centrifuge for 10 minutes

Abstract

The water flea Moina macrocopa (Straus, 1820) survived and did not become pelleted when centrifuged at 21,500 × g for 10 minutes. Five out of six individuals tested swam in the microtube after being centrifuged at 100,000 × g for 10 minutes. It was confirmed that M. macrocopa occurred near the bottom of a 15 ml centrifuge tube on the spoke of a bicycle wheel due to the centrifugal force of 5 × g. This results suggests that M. macrocopa would have withstood conditions of 100,000 × g at the bottom of the tube. This is the first report that a crustacean can withstand extremely high gravitational forces, which prompts the potential use of M. macrocopa as a new model for extreme hypergravity.