Marine Rotifera

Last updated 2 days ago

Rotifera represents a phylum of about 2000 species of microscopic aquatic animals, whose length ranges between 80 and 1000 μm. Marine rotifers occur in both plankton and benthos, where they may significantly contribute to the total biomass, and play a key role in the energy transfer process. In saltwater habitats there are more than 500 rotifer taxa at either specific, subspecific and infrasubspecific rank, corresponding to about 400 nominal species, which are 20% of the known rotifer species. A total of 37.0% of marine rotifers have been found in saltwater only and are considered stenohaline. Some other taxa (39%) are reported from both fresh- and saltwater habitats and are considered truly euryhaline. At least 24% are known from freshwater habitats, and found in saltwater only occasionally and sparsely (‘haloxenous taxa’). Marine Rotifera aims to increase and improve the first complete source of information (from taxonomy to morphology and distribution) of all marine rotifers of the world. Last indexed May 19, 2012