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Abstract order Isopoda is one of the iInportant orders of the subclass Malacostraca. It comprises about 2600 species excluding Oniscoidea (terrestrial isopods) and Epicaridea (parasitic isopods) (Waterman and Chace, 1960). There are over 2000 species of Oniscoidea (Gordon, 1966). Nearly 28 isopod species have been recordedfrom the Mediterranean (Campbell, 1982). The majority of isopod species are marine living on the sea bottomor are essential free living members of fouling communities on the hard substrata from the littoral zone to the deep water regions. Although there are a few species in the plankton, they are principally bottom-living or parasitic forms. They are parasites on othercrustaceans or fishes. Isopoda as the other crustacean species play an iInportant rolein the economy of the sea. They are iInportant food items for various demersal commercial fishes and other benthic aniInals (Ara, 1937; FAO, 1973; Wassef, 1973; Allam, 1979; 1990; El- Emary,1987). On the other hand, marine isopods feed on plants, detritus andother marine animals such as molluscs, annelids, crustaceans and fishes (Stlmposon, 1857; Boorie, 1921; Hartnoll, 1960. |