R Kalpana, P Saravana Bhavan, R Udayasuriyan, JR Sheu, T Jayakumar and TH Fong

This study represents diversity of zooplankton species in a perennial freshwater lake located in Singanallur (Lat. 10.59° N and Long. 77.88° E) at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India for a period of one year (June, 2017-May, 2018). Fifty three zooplankton species including rotifera-18, cladocera-10, copepoda-13 and ostracoda-12 were observed. The first record of an ostracoda species Cypretta campechensis was observed during summer. This species was recognized according to its morphological characteristics of anterior view, posterior view, dorsal margin, lateral view (triangular shape), maxillular palp, posterior seta, posterior claw, uropodal ramus and hemipenis. This was mass cultured in mixed phytoplankton as feed. The molecular identification was done via analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mt-COI). The gene was amplified with universal primers (LCO1490 and HCO2198), sequenced and authenticated with NCBI GenBank (MN641913). The BLAST showed 100% similarity with C. campechensis of Mexico (MF076727). The sequence showed more number of identical amino acid residues than that of variable amino acid sites. The noticed higher AT biases (62.4-63.0%) than GC biases (36.1-37.5%) indicated that lower abundance of nuclear copies of mt-DNA (NUMTs) genes. The divergence rate was very low between the subjected and retrieved species (0.000-0.290%). The endemism of C. campechensis can be used as a bio-indicator of water pollution status of this lake and may afford an opening to assess its importance in aquaculture production.

DOI: 10.22271/23940522.2021.v8.i2a.810

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