Our journey in the study of copepods in Türkiye began with the pioneering samplings in the Marmara Sea by Noodt in 1955. Despite this early start, the field did not see significant progress until the early 2000s. This change was spearheaded by the commendable efforts of Prof. Dr. Süphan Karaytuğ and Prof. Dr. Serdar Sak, whose leadership in a series of research projects accelerated the pace of discovery and understanding.

A particular focus has been on the interstitial and phytal harpacticoids living along the Turkish coastlines, which have been intensively sampled and studied since then. Our website aims to highlight the systematic studies of Copepods in Turkey and introduce the researchers contributing to this field. Additionally, we are excited to share a catalog of copepod species collected during these field studies (TCRC – Turkish Copepoda Research Collection).

In addition to our collections of free-living copepods, our webpage offers detailed information on numerous parasitic copepod species gathered from marine organisms in the Turkish seas. While the majority of our parasitic copepod collection is composed of species from the family Caligidae Burmeister, 1835—commonly known as “sea lice” and notorious for being major pests in cultured marine fish—we also possess a significant number of specimens from other copepod families. These include Lernanthropidae de Blainville, 1822, Lernaeopodidae Milne Edwards, 1840, Bomolochidae Calus, 1875, Pennellidae Burmeister, 1835, Hatschekidae Kabata, 1979, and Taeniacanthidae Wilson C.B., 1911, among others. As the Turkish Copepoda Researchers Group, we welcome collaboration with copepod researchers worldwide on future research projects and are committed to sharing our knowledge of copepods with future generations.