Microsetella rosea
Dana (1848)
Download a fact sheet for Microsetella rosea (PDF 297KB)
Taxonomy
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Maxillopoda |
| Subclass | Copepoda |
| Order | Harpacticoida |
| Family | Ectinosomatidae |
| Genus | Microsetella |
| Species | rosea |
Size
- Female: 0.64 - 0.85 mm
- Male: 0.37 - 0.70 mm
Species notes
- Body slender & laterally compressed
- Urosome is as wide as metasome
- Caudal rami setae twice as long as body
Male
- Males are rarer than females
- A1 slender, elongate, 5-segmented, geniculate
Female
- Sometimes has a rosy tinge
- The 2nd, 3rd & 5th prosome somites and the urosome somites have traverse rows of spinules near the anterior margins
- Longest setae on the caudal rami 2x as long as body
- P5 with 2 inner setae approx equal in length
Note - similar to M. norvegica:
- Check size, if over 0.8mm it is likely M. rosea
- Length of caudal rami setae, if nearly twice as long as body then it is M. rosea, if shorter than it could be either species (setae could be broken)
- M. rosea has spinules on metasome and urosome, M. norvegica has spinules on urosome
- M. norvegica caudal rami slightly more divergent than M. rosea
- M. rosea may be coloured pink
Distribution
- Epipelagic
- Oceanic and coastal
- Australian distribution includes Gulf of Carpentaria, Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales and eastern Tasmania
- World distribution: cosmopolitan except for the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans
Ecology
- Herbivorous
- Important dietary component for larvae of small pelagic fishes; examples include European anchovy in the Mediterranean (Engraulis encrasicolus) and larval jack mackerel (Trachurus declivis) in eastern Tasmania
References
- Bacha & Amara (2009)
- Conway DVP, White, R.G., Hugues-Dit-Ciles, J., Gallienne, C.P. and Robins, D.B. (2003) Guide to the coastal and surface zooplankton of the south-western Indian Ocean, Vol Occasional Publications No. 15. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.
- Othman et al (1990)
- Young & Davis (1992)