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suye@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Microsetella norvegica is a widely distributed marine planktonic harpacticoid copepod, which is poorly
known from the biological point of view. We investigated the seasonal population dynamics and
production of M. norvegica in the central part of the Inland Sea of Japan. It occurred throughout
the year, whilst its reproduction was confined to the warm season between May and November. The
proportion of ovigerous females, which carry a single egg sac, was low (mean: 23.1%) in August
and September, and high (53.6%) in October. Their brood size attained a maximum (mean: 15.8
eggs per sac) in July and August and declined gradually to 6.2 eggs in November. Duration time
from egg laying to moulting to adulthood was temperature-dependent; it was 31.9 and 14.3 days at
20 and 27C, respectively, under excess food conditions in the laboratory. An enormously high population abundance (7.32 104 individuals m3), which accounted for 86.5% of the total copepods, and biomass (69.6 mg C m3) gave an annual maximum production rate of 4.90 mg C m3
day1) in October. Nauplii and copepodites disappeared in December, and the overwintering population was represented by adults, mainly large females. Associations of M. norvegica with marine
snow aggregates, which have often been found in oligotrophic waters, were not observed in the foodrich environment of the Inland Sea of Japan.
I N T RO D U C T I O N
Harpacticoid copepods are primarily benthic. A very
small proportion (0.5%) of harpacticoid species inhabit
the pelagic ocean permanently (Boxshall, 1979; Huys and
Bttger-Schnack, 1994). These pelagic harpacticoids
show relatively active swimming ability (e.g. Euterpina acutifrons), unique structural features, such as an elongated
worm-like body and caudal setae that slow their sinking
velocity (e.g. Microsetella spp. and Macrosetella spp.), or close
association with floating substrates, namely the colonial
cyanobacterium Trichodesmium [e.g. Macrosetella gracilis;
(Calef and Grice, 1966; Tokioka and Bieri, 1966; ONeil,
1998)] or suspended organic aggregates [e.g. Microsetella
norvegica; (Alldredge, 1972; Ohtsuka et al., 1993; Green
and Dagg, 1997)].
Microsetella norvegica is distributed widely in subtropical
(Gonzalez and Bowman, 1965; Goswami, 1979), temper-
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METHOD
Sampling and sample analysis
Weekly samplings of mesozooplankton were conducted
during daytime from 22 December, 1982 to 24 December,
1983, from a pontoon in Numakuma, Hiroshima Prefecture (St. A, Figure 1). Copepodites and adults of M.
norvegica were collected by towing a 94 m mesh plankton
net (with a flowmeter at the mouth) vertically from the
bottom to the surface (through a depth of 810 m). Its
nauplii were sampled with a Van Dorn bottle (6 l) at each
1 m depth (total water volume: 108132 l) and filtered
through a 40 m mesh hand net. Neutralized formalin
was immediately added to the samples (final concentration: 510%). Additional net samplings were made at
an offshore station (St. B, depth: 2022 m, Figure 1), ca.
10 km southeast of St. A, from 18 May to 13 October,
Fig. 1. Map showing the location of the sampling stations (St. A and St. B) in the central part of the Inland Sea of Japan.
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(1)
gC = (lnCCVIF lnCCI)/DC
(2)
where CE, CCI and CCVIF are carbon weights (g) of an egg,
copepodite stage I (CI) and adult female, respectively, and
DN and DC are duration (days) of the naupliar and copepodite stages, respectively.
Since adult males did not grow beyond copepodite
stage V (CV), their net production was assumed to be negligible. We also assumed that the net production of adult
females was attained only by egg production. Hence, the
specific growth rate of breeding females (gCVIF, day1) was
given by:
gCVIF = {ln[CCVIF + (CE BS)] lnCCVIF}/(DN + DI) (3)
where BS is brood size (eggs per sac) and DI is the duration
(days) from the hatching of an egg sac to the production
of a new one.
The population production rate (P, mg C m3 day1)
was given by:
P = (gN BN) + (gC BC) + (gCVIF BCVIF) OF
(4)
R E S U LT S
Seasonal environmental variables
Due to a relatively strong tidal current at St. A, vertical
differences in temperature and salinity between the
surface and bottom were always less than 1.0C and
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Fig. 2. Body length (BL) measurements applied to nauplius and copepodite of Microsetella norvegica.
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(5)
(6)
(7)
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(11)
(12)
(13)
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Table I: Relative duration of each developmental stage in total duration from egg to adulthood of
Microsetella norvegica at three different temperatures
Temp.
Developmental stage
(C)
Egg
NI
NII
NIII
NIV
NV
NVI
CI
CII
CIII
CIV
CV
20.7
10.5
3.5
9.6
6.3
4.9
5.1
10.9
5.3
5.9
12.1
10.3
15.6
24.1
11.5
3.4
6.3
8.5
8.1
6.7
6.5
4.6
7.5
9.6
11.9
15.4
26.7
10.3
3.1
5.7
7.4
7.1
4.5
12.2
6.5
6.5
13.9
11.4
11.4
Mean
10.8
3.3
7.2
7.4
6.7
5.4
9.9
5.5
6.6
11.9
11.2
14.1
(14)
(15)
Fig. 10. Seasonal variation in specific growth rate of nauplii, copepodites and adult females of Microsetella norvegica at St. A.
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DISCUSSION
(16)
(17)
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Table II: Comparison of the specific growth rates of Microsetella norvegica to those of sympatric
copepod species at 20C
Species
Calculated from
Nauplii
Copepodites
Females
Acartia omorii
0.42
0.37
0.65
Calanus sinicus
0.46
0.44
0.15
Centropages abdominalis
0.34
0.45
0.65
Paracalanus sp.
0.21
0.34
0.42
Pseudodiaptomus marinus
0.25
0.25
0.15
0.21
0.21
0.28
0.22
0.27
0.28
Calanoids
Cyclopoid
Oithona davisae
Harpacticoids
Euterpina acutifrons*
Microsetella norvegica
0.18
0.056
0.078
* Growth parameters are determined for specimens from the Mediterranean Sea.
This study
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AC K N O W L E D G E M E N T S
REFERENCES
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Liang, D., Uye, S. and Onbe, T. (1994) Production and loss of eggs in the
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