Age, distribution and abundance of viable resting eggs of Acartia pacifica (Copepoda: Calanoida) in Xiamen Bay, China

Abstract

The distribution and abundance of viable resting eggs of copepod Acartia pacifica in Xiamen Bay, China, were determined in the laboratory by the presence of nauplii hatched from the sediments. Sediment cores to a depth of 30 cm, sliced at 1.0 cm intervals, showed that most viable resting eggs of A. pacifica occurred near the sediment surface (0–5 cm), and the number of viable eggs sharply decreased with depth of the sediment, although resting eggs remained viable as deep as 23 cm. 210Pb analyses of the sediments indicated that the maximum age of viable eggs of A. pacifica was 20.5 years and the mean egg age was 4.3 years. The egg mortality of A. pacifica in the sediment was 0.1408 year −1, or 85.92% annual egg survival, calculated by regressing ln(egg density) on the age of the sediment. The horizontal distribution of viable resting eggs ranged from 2.27×10 3 to 3.85×10 5 m −2, with a mean value of 9.49×10 4 m −2. Regressions between viable eggs of A. pacifica and all fine-fraction particle size classes (at 2 μm intervals) were not significant. The accumulation of viable resting eggs that can persist for an extended period of time provided evidence for the existence of an egg bank of A. pacifica in the seabed of Xiamen Bay.