Studies on the morpho taxonomic variations of four Centropagidae species (Crustacea: ‎Calanoida) with note on their abundance collected from Sonmiani Bay, northern ‎Arabian sea

Abstract

Centropagidae is comparatively a larger family to other families of order calanoida. The ‎quantitative data revealed that the copepods of the genus Centropages are the ‎dominant component in the zooplankton samples from the designated station in ‎Sonmiani bay, a coastal lagoon at Balochistan coast, northern Arabian sea. Four ‎epipelagic species of family Centropagidae, Centropages (Centropages dorsispinatus ‎Thompson I.C. & Scott A., 1903, Centropages tenuiremis Thompson I.C. & Scott A., ‎‎1903, Centropages furcatus (Dana, 1849) and Centropages orsinii Giesbrecht, 1889 ) ‎were identified. Male and female specimens were distinguished on their characteristic ‎features of antennules, thoracic segments and fifth legs. Identified specimens were ‎described briefly with their microscopic illustrations. Centropages dorsispinatus and ‎Centropages tenuiremis were frequently found in zooplankton samples throughout the ‎sampling season.‎