A new species of Calanoid Copepod from southwest Korea.

Calanoid Copepods are small (at most millimetres in length) Arthropods found living in the marine water column across the world. They are a major component of the zooplankton, and as primary consumers of phytoplankton (single-celled planktonic algae), they play an important role in marine food chains. Due to the vast numbers of these organisms found in vast marine swarms they are contenders for the most numerous group of animals; though not the most diverse or specious.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 21 November 2014, Seong Yong Moon and Seok-Hyun Youn of the Fisheries and Ocean Information Division at the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of South Korea and Ho Young Soh of the Faculty of Marine Technology at Chonnam National University describe a new species of Calanoid Copepod from shallow waters in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Mokpo in southwest Korea.

The new species is placed in the genus Parvocalanus, and given the specific name leei in honour of Jungah Lee, the wife of Seong Yong Moon. The species is described from 21 female and 11 male specimens. The females were larger than the males, at 0.75–0.92 mm in females and 0.49–0.69 mm in males. The species was found in mixed swarms with other species of Copepods, in shallow waters with a temperature above 20˚C.

Parvocalanus leei, female, in (A) dorsal and (B) lateral views. Scale bar is 0.1 mm. Moon et al. (2014).

Parvocalanus leei, male, in (A) dorsal and (B) lateral views. Scale bar is 0.1 mm. Moon et al. (2014).

See also…

 A new species of Poecilostomatoid Copepod associated with Ghost Shrimps off the coast of Brazil.

Poecilostomatoid Copepods a minute parasitic Crustaceans that live externally on their hosts, which can be Fish, Molluscs, Echinoderms or other Crustaceans. Most Poecilostomatoid Copepods are marine, though some species are freshwater, and some...

 A new species of Pennellid Copepod from the East China Sea.

Pennellid Copepods are small parasitic Crustaceans that live with their bodies almost entirely buried within the bodies of Fish or Whale hosts, with only the egg sacks and the tip of the abdomen visible from the...

 Four new species of parasitic Copepods from Japan.

Splanchnotrophid Copepods are small parasitic Crustacean that live with their bodies almost entirely burried within the bodies of Gastropod hosts, with only...

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