Acartia ensifera
Encyclopedia
Acartia ensifera is a species of marine copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...

 belonging to the family Acartiidae
Acartiidae
Acartiidae is a family of calanoid copepods distinguishable by the rostral margin not being extended. They are epipelagic, planktonic animals, not being found below a depth of . There are over 100 described species distributed throughout the world's oceans, mainly in temperate areas....

. This is a slender copepod, around 0.8 - 0.9 mm in length, with distinctively long caudal rami
Caudal ramus
The caudal ramus is a characteristic feature of primitive crustaceans. Located on the anal somite , the caudal ramus is a pair of appendage-like or spine-like protrusions. Specific structures which are rod or blade-like are referred to as caudal furca....

. It is found around the coasts of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK