Feeding behavior of the poecilostomatoid copepods Oncaea spp. on chaetognaths

Abstract

Feeding behaviors of the poecilostomatoid copepods Oncaea venusta, O. mediterranea and O. conifera were examined in the coastal area of Cheju Island, south of the Korean Peninsula, from April 1993 to November 1995. Late copepodid stages (CV, adult female and male) showed a high frequency of association with larger zooplankton such as Sagitta spp. (Chaetognatha), Oikopleura spp. (Appendicularia), and Salpa spp. (Thaliacea) in a coastal upwelling zone and around the small Munsum Island. Attack behaviors on Sagitta observed under the microscope and in the field showed that Oncaea approached Sagitta using their swimming legs, and then crawled chiefly to the neck regions and caudal septum (around the tail) of Sagitta spp. using their second antennae. They pierced the body of Sagitta with their sharp maxillipeds, and moved their maxillae and mandibles repeatedly. Midgut contents of Oncaea spp. consisted mainly of unidentified fine particles, and the greater part of the gut was empty. Their mouthpart structure is remarkably different from other pelagic copepods. Such differences of the mouthpart structures and the feeding habits in the genus Oncaea around Cheju Island are discussed in terms of feeding behavior and ecology in this coastal upwelling area.