THE OCCURRENCE OF INTERSEXUALITY IN HARPACTICOID COPEPODS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH POLLUTION

Intersexuality in harpacticoid copepods is extremely rare, only one specimen having previously been recorded in the literature over 40 years ago. We record the presence of intersexes of several species in the Firth of Forth and elsewhere in Scotland. The possibility that pollution may be implicated in the causation of the phenomenon is suggested by the high level of intersexuality in the vicinity of a major sewage discharge off Edinburgh, where 93% of the specimens examined of one of the dominant species exhibit intersexuality.