Copepods, tiny crustaceans, are the link between the photosynthetic life in the ocean or pond and the rest of the aquatic food web. They are primary consumers grazing on algae in the waters of the oceans and ponds. These organisms, among the most abundant multicellular animals on Earth, are then consumed by a variety of small predators, which are eaten by larger predators, and so on. Virtually all animal life in the ocean depends on the copepods, either directly or indirectly. Although humans do not eat cope-pods directly, our sources of food from the ocean would disappear without the copepods.