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.
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