First report of an epibiontic diatom Protoraphis hustedtiana R. Simonsen, 1970 (Protoraphidaceae) in association with copepod Pontella andersoni Sewell, 1912 from northern coastal waters of Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean

ABSTRACT

Protoraphis hustedtiana R. Simonsen, 1970 is reported to be epibiontic on the calanoid copepod Pontella andersoni Sewell, 1912. Observed in the northern coastal waters of Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean during the winter monsoon, this diatom has been found attached to its basibiont host copepod P. andersoni. With this report, the araphid diatom P. hustedtiana extends its biogeographic distribution to the Bay of Bengal (BoB), from where it had not been recorded prior to this study.

KEYWORDS:

• Araphid diatom
• basibiont
• calanoid copepod
• epibiosis
• symbiosis

Acknowledgements

The authors are greatly indebted to the Director, Zoological Survey of India for her timely support and facilities to carry out the work. The authors like to thank DST SERB for the financial support provided to carry out the work. We are also thankful to CSIR for providing SRF fellowship to AS.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology (DST SERB), Government of India under Grant Sanction order number ECR/2017/000087 and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India under sanction letter number 09/1181(0003)/2017-EMR-I.