Morphological abnormalities in Acartia lilljeborgii Giesbrecht (1889) (Copepoda, Calanoida) in a tropical estuary under industrial development

Abstract Morphological abnormalities in crustaceans have been registered and several are attributed to pollution others anthropogenic activities. This study reports for the first time a temporal record of amount variety morphological Acartia lilljeborgii, an impacted neotropical estuary. The specimens were obtained from Suape port area, Northeast Brazil, between May 2009 September 2010 using 300 µm plankton net. Seven types observed one terminal spines prosome, but no variation was found our study. deformities 85.7% samples they up 10% individuals (3.2 ± 2.9%). proportion females with greater than males, opposite most previous reports. Due its high distribution abundance part Atlantic coastal A. lilljeborgii has potential be used as bioindicator environmental conditions, although reasons abnormality occurrences should accurately investigated.