| Calanoida | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Unidentified species of copepod in the order Calanoida. | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Copepoda |
| Infraclass: | Neocopepoda |
| Superorder: | Gymnoplea Giesbrecht, 1882 [1] |
| Order: | Calanoida Sars, 1903 |
| Families | |
See text | |
Calanoida is anorder ofcopepods, a group of arthropods commonly found aszooplankton. The order includes around 46 families with about 1800 species of both marine andfreshwatercopepods between them.[2]
Calanoids can be distinguished from other planktonic copepods by having firstantennae at least half the length of the body andbiramous second antennae.[2] However, their most distinctive anatomical trait is the presence of a joint between the fifth and sixth body segments.[3] The largest specimens reach 18 millimetres (0.71 in) long, but most do not exceed 0.5–2.0 mm (0.02–0.08 in) long.[2]
The order Calanoida contains the following families:[4]
Calanoid copepods are the dominant animals in theplankton in many parts of the world's oceans, making up 55–95% of plankton samples.[2] They are therefore important in many food webs, taking in energy fromphytoplankton andalgae and 'repackaging' it for consumption by highertrophic level predators.[2] Many commercial fish are dependent on calanoid copepods for diet in either theirlarval or adult forms.Baleen whales such asbowhead whales,sei whales,right whales andfin whales rely substantially on calanoid copepods as a food source.[2]
Media related toCalanoida at Wikimedia Commons
Data related toCalanoida at Wikispecies
