mtCOI Sequence-Based Barcoding of Calanoid Copepods from Lagoon Waters of Lakshadweep, South-west Coast of India

Coastal waters of Southwest coast of India including the lagoon waters of Lakshadweep are known to be vital habitat to a wide variety of zooplankton groups by their maximum diversity, and complexity of the trophic organisation. Copepods are the most abundant crustaceans in the world oceans, usually contributing >60% of the total zooplankton abundance. DNA barcode data based on mtCOI sequences for the marine calanoid copepods (111 sequences for 25 species) were documented which was not previously sequenced from the lagoon waters of Lakshadweep, South-eastern Arabian Sea. This work constitutes a powerful tool for identification with minimal errors not only of copepods in the Arabian Sea but in the adjoining marine areas; the results are the first step in building databases of sequences from the south-west coast of India.