Calanidae is the largest taxonomic family of calanoid

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...

s. It includes the genus '' Calanus'', which may be the most abundant

metazoan Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

Copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...

s of the genera '' Calanus'' and ''

Neocalanus ''Neocalanus'' is a genus of marine copepods. They are a dominant component of the open water ecosystems of the northern Pacific Ocean. ''Neocalanus'' are large copepods, reaching body lengths (i.e., prosome length) of more than in ''Neocalanus ...

'' are ecologically important in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

and subarctic regions of the world's

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

Genera

The family contains the following genera: *'' Calanoides'' *'' Calanus'' *'' Canthocalanus'' *'' Cosmocalanus'' *'' Mesocalanus'' *'' Metranura'' *'' Nannocalanus'' *''

'' *'' Undinula''

References

External links

*
Guide to the marine zooplankton of south eastern Australia
Calanoida Taxa named by James Dwight Dana Crustacean families {{Calanoida-stub