Daily egg production rate of the planktonic calanoid copepod Acartia erythraea in the Gamak Bay

Abstract

A. erythraea adult females were individually incubated in chamber filled with surface water screened through a 40-μm mesh, containing a natural assemblage of phytoplankton in the laboratory, at temperatures corresponding to ambient. Daily egg production rate ranged from 1±3 to 9.9± 3 eggs female&#8722 1 d&#8722 1. Fecundity typically increased with increasing temperature for A. erythraea, and hatching success varied from 17 to 92.1%. Excluding this high production rate from statistical analysis, the egg-production rates were found to be positively correlated with phytoplankton concentration. These results suggest that water temperature and phytoplankton concentration are important factors affecting the egg production rate of A. erythraea in the Gamak Bay.egg production rate ranged from 1±3 to 9.9± 3 eggs female&#8722 1 d&#8722 1. Fecundity typically increased with increasing temperature for A. erythraea, and hatching success varied from 17 to 92.1%. Excluding this high production rate from statistical analysis, the egg-production rates were found to be positively correlated with phytoplankton concentration. These results suggest that water temperature and phytoplankton concentration are important factors affecting the egg production rate of A. erythraea in the Gamak Bay.