Pontellidae copepods in the Pacific off Baja California, Mexico, July 1988

The distribution and abundance of six species and one genus of pontellid copepods during July 1988 at four latitudinal lines perpendicular to the coast of Baja California Peninsula and one perpendicular to the Sinaloa coast are shown. A common feature of all species of zooplanktonic organisms analyzed in this paper, was that an increase of temperature and salinity in areas they lived caused a decrease in their abundance and frequency of occurrence. This was most evident for Lobidocera trispinosa. Different occurrence patterns were also noted along each of the transects associated with changes of the variables recorded at the sea surface. -Author