Copepods are crustaceans found in both marine and freshwater environments. Most are planktonic, while others are found living in the sediments. Some species are specialised to live as parasites, on or in host organisms at some stage in the lifecycle, although one or more stages are freeliving as plankton in the water, usually during the early stages of development. Under intensive salmon farming conditions where fish are kept in close proximity, sea lice numbers can increase rapidly and cause serious problems as a result of the opportunistic response of lice to the high density of available hosts. While low numbers of sea lice cause only minimal damage to the host, high numbers can result in severe effects and even death of the host fish.

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