The euphausiids (Class Crustacea: Order Euphausiacea) one of
the major components of the marine zooplankton occurring in the
EEZ of the west coast of India (eastern Arabian Sea) and collected
during the cruises of FORV Sugar Sampada during 1985-1992
period from the epipelagic zone were subjected to specieswise
study for their distribution in space and time and for their ecology
and biology. Seventeen species were encountered of which
Pseudeuphasia latifrons (at an average density of 258/lOOOm^ of
water), Euphausiia diomedeae (1,256), E. sibogae (1,437),
Nematoscelis gracilis (309), Stylocheiron armatum (230) and S.
qffine (216) were the most abundant and cosmopolitan in occurrence.
The other 17 species namely Thysanopoda monacantha, T.
tricuspidata, T. astylata, E. tenera, E. pseudogibba, Nematobrachion
flexipes, S. suhmii, S. microphthalma, S. longicorne, S. abbreviatum
and S. maximum were rather sparsely distributed and their average
number per lOOOm^ of water ranged between 10 and 151 only. The
major species exhibited marked variations in population during
different months and seasons mainly depending on the changes in
the environment
