Variation in body length measurement of Euphausia superba Dana

Various body length measurements were made on freshly captured and preserved Euphausia superba Dana. Functions were calculated to describe the relationship of various length measurements to one another for fresh animals. In sexually immature animals length measurements were closely related, but variations in the relationship of standard length to carapace length were found for both mature male and female animals. This was attributed to variations in carapace length resulting from the presence of ripe ovaries in mature females and differences in growth rates of mature males. Comparison between fresh and preserved animals only showed variation in the relationship of standard length to uropod length indicating absence of preservative-induced shrinkage in the latter. Close agreement was found between the present results and those of other workers. © 1983 Springer-Verlag.