Vervoort, 1963
Short Description:
Euchirella splendens is an aetideid calanoid copepod known after both sexes (female 3.88-5.05 mm and male 3.40-3.76 mm in length) from the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Guinea and tropical Atlantic of epipelagic and deeper layers.
Taxonomic Description:
Female. Total length 3.88-5.05 mm. Cephalothorax about 4 times longer than abdomen. Crest absent. Rostrum comparatively small. Th5 posterior corners (lateral view) rounded. Genital segment on the right posteriorly with projection of slightly variable shape. A1 reaching Abd4. Coxopodite, basipodite and Ri1 A2 with 1 seta each. Ri A2 is about a fourth of Re length; internal Ri2 A2 lobe with 4 setae; external lobe with 5 setae. Md palp base and Ri1 Md without setae, Ri2 Md with 9 setae. Mx1 gnathobase with 13 setae; second and third internal lobes with 4 and 3 setae respectively; protopodite near Ri base with 3; Ri with 4 setae; Re with 11 setae and external lobe with 8 setae. Mx2, Mxp and P1-P4 typical of the genus. P4 coxopodite with 2 spines.
Male. (Description after Park (1976b) with modifications). Total length 3.40-3.76 mm. Cephalon without crest. Rostrum is better developed than in females. Cephalothorax about 3.5 times longer than abdomen. P5 left with Re1 reaching the distal end of right basipodite; Ri P5 right with 3 projections along external margin, Re1 P5 right with 4 teeth-like projections on internal margin, third projection on Re1 is situated at the level of first projection on Ri (with curved top).
Vertical distribution:
In the Gulf of Mexico the species was found in the day time between 200 and 3000 m, at night in large numbers in upper 100 m (Park, 1976b).
Geographical distribution:
The species was found in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Guinea, in the region of the Canary Isles and Cape Verde Islands, in the tropical Atlantic (Vervoort, 1963; Park, 1975c; 1976b; Von Vaupel Klein, 1984).
Type locality: the Gulf of Guinea (Vervoort, 1963).
Material examined:
2 females from sample 573. See examined samples module.