The organism has a large head, with a prominent movable eye occupying much of the frontal region. Small antennules are located on the ventral surface of the head. Each ramus of the antennae bears 7 setae. It possesses four pairs of stout, somewhat flattened legs, clearly segmented and prehensile, with strong claws and branchial lobes. The fourth pair of legs is very small. The brood sac is globular and can hold twenty to twenty-five young in fully grown females. It can be colorless or brownish, with a length of 0.82 mm. This species exhibits both sexual (gametogenetic) and asexual (parthenogenetic) reproduction, facilitated by different types of females distinguished by morphology, physiology, life cycles, and behavior. Unlike most cladocerans, it does not produce ephippial resting eggs; instead, its resting eggs typically fall to the sediments or become attached to aquatic macrophytes. Asexual females do not lay eggs; instead, eggs mature within the brood pouch, nourished by maternal secretions of nutritive fluid. Young sexual females are characterized by small brood chambers containing resting eggs still in the ovaries, with blue to violet caudal stems. As they age, sexual females develop larger brood chambers containing resting eggs, with their sexual openings blocked by hardened internal membranes within the brood chamber. They undergo color changes to warn males, with the dorsal side of the brood chamber turning red-brown and the caudal stem dark blue. Males can detect these color changes from up to 30 cm away.