Rhincalanus gigas
Brady (1883)
Download a fact sheet for Rhincalanus gigas (PDF 299KB)
Taxonomy
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Maxillopoda |
| Subclass | Copepoda |
| Order | Calanoida |
| Family | Rhincalanidae |
| Genus | Rhincalanus |
| Species | gigas |
Size
- Female: 6.46 - 9.30mm
- Male: 6.90 - 7.20mm
Distinguishing characteristics
- Large size
Male
- Right P5 terminal exopod spine extends almost as far as distal end of endopod, both rami with many spinules.
- Left P5 terminal spine extends almost as far as right leg, segment 2 with inner border of spinules and outer distal spines
- Size is diagnostic
- Very few males have been found, P5 very similar to R. nasutus, check for spines on left P5 segment 2
Female
- Very large, distinct body and head shape
- Pointed cephalosome bearing bifid rostrum
- A1 at least 1.5x length of body
- 5th thoracic somite, and sometimes somite 3, with dorsal spines on posterior margins
- 4th and usually 3rd thoracic somites with no spines
- Urosome only short (~15% of body length)
Distribution
Ecology
References
- Bradford-Grieve J., (1994). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Pelagic calanoid copopoda: Megacalanidae, Calanidae, Paracalanidae, Mecynoceridae, Eucalanidae, Spinocalanidae, Clausocalanidae. New Zealand Oceanographic Memoir 102.
- Bradford-Grieve, J. M., E. L. Markhaseva, et al. (1999). Copepoda. South Atlantic Zooplankton. D. Boltovskoy. Leiden, The Netherlands, Backhuys Publishers. 1: 869-1098.
- Guglielmo, L., Ianora, A. editors. (1995) Atlas of marine zooplankton. Straits of Magellan. Copepods. xiv, 279p. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1995