Mass occurrence of bathypelagic chaetognath <i>Eukrohnia fowleri </i>from the <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN; mso-fareast-language:EN-IN;mso-bidi-language:HI" lang="EN-IN">Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal</span>

Abstract

<span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-IN">More than 250 individuals of a cosmopolitan bathypelagic chaetognath <i>Eukrohnia fowleri </i>were collected by ORI net from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. This high density is supported by high primary production and zooplankton biomass in both areas. Body length ranged from 13 mm to 27 mm (av 21 mm) in the Arabian Sea and from 11 mm to 30 mm (av 18 mm) in the Bay of Bengal. Adults contributed 24% and 12% of total catch respectively from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Minimum body length of adult was 18 mm. The species inhabit in the oxygen minimum layer in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The tropical northern Indian Ocean supports relatively higher population density of <i>Eukrohnia fowleri </i>as compared to other oceans.</span>