Identifying nauplial stages of the Black Sea copepods of Calanidae family in fish larvae guts

Abstract

Nauplial stages of copepods are known to be the main food items for fish larvae. Their identification in fish larvae guts is usually a difficult task and a time-consuming procedure. Original approach to identification of larvae and juvenile fish common food items – nauplial stages of the Black Sea copepods of family Calanidae – is proposed. This work is a continuation of the initiated studies on the developing a method for determining the juvenile copepod stages from fish larvae guts. On the example of nauplial stage III of Calanus euxinus Hulsemann, 1991, specific features that can be used in identifying nauplial stages of three species of the Black Sea copepods from fish larvae guts are shown.