| The size and shape of the cutting edge of the mandibles from the five most abundant copepod species found in Mejillones Bay are described with the aim to create a helpful tool for the identification of copepod prey and their size from predator gut contents. Good allometric relationships were found between the carapace length and the mandible width for the species Paracalanus parvus, Centropages brachiatus and Acartia tonsa. By contrast, the cyclopoids Oithona sp. and Corycaeus sp. did not present a good relationship between these two parameters, presumably due to the presence of more than a species in the study area. Applying the edge index (<A HREF="#itoh70">Itoh 1970</A>) the copepods were classified as herbivores (e.g., P. parvus), omnivores... |
