Determination of the free living stages of caligus solea (Caligidae :Copepoda) from common sole (Solea solea linnaeus, 1758)

In this study, general morphology and the key diagnostic characters of Caligus solea, collected on wild common sole, Solea solea L., were studied together with the development of egg and free living stages. To accomplish this aim, necessary examinations and trials were carried out in three chapters. In the first chapter, morphology of the key diagnostic characters of adult female and male C. solea were re-examined and re- described by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). In the second chapter, duration of egg and larval development within the free living stages (nauplii I, II and copepodid) of C. solea were determined. In the last chapter, morphology of the free living stages was decribed for the first time in detail. Depending on the results obtained from the studies conducted in these three chapters, it is determined that morphological differences than described in the original description of C. solea. In addition, the egg development within the egg sacs (time to first hatch at 15°C) was recorded as 73 h., the duration time from the beginning of the egg development to the infective copepodid stage was recorded as approximately 128 h.