Diurnal Variations in the Grazing of Planktonic Copepods

Abstract

Records were made of the presence or absence of food in the guts of Calanus finmarchicus caught in three different depths, at intervals of 4 hr. through 24 hr. It was found that 80-100 % of the Calanus caught at the surface were full of food at all hours of the day.The number of Calanus containing food in deeper water was distinctly less. This may be correlated with the abundance of its food close to the surface. Diurnal vertical migrations took place on some occasions when samples were taken, but not on all.In the absence of vertical migration Calanus was abundant at the surface and feeding continuously at all hours of the 24 hr. Where vertical migration took place feeding was mostly at the surface and was restricted to the hours of darkness, i.e. in summer to a period distinctly less than 8 hr. round midnight. Laboratory observations confirm the absence of any feeding rhythm.