Abstract
The feeding rates of the marine planktonic copepods, Eucalanus subcrassus Giesbrecht, Tortanus gracilis (Brady), Calanopia elliptica (Dana) (both male and female), Temora turbinata (Dana), and Paracalanus aculeatus Giesbrecht (only female) from tropical inshore waters have been studied. Newly hatched Artemia nauplii (for Eucalanus, Tortanus, and Calanopia), Dunaliella (for Temora), and Skeletonema (for Paracalanus) were used as food. Feeding rates were measured for a single individual through successive incubations once or twice a day until death to determine changes in feeding rate after collection. Copepods survived from a few days to three weeks. In general, feeding rates varied from day to day, but were less variable than the differences between day and night rates. In some cases, feeding rate consistently decreased up to the death of the copepod. Daily ration, estimated in terms of percentage body weight, was in the range of 28–329 ‰ Using the results together with the those of other workers, gives the relation between daily ration (Y, % body weight) and body weight of copepods (X; μg dry weight) at 20 °C as, log Y = 2.531−0.377 log X. Copepods given Artemia nauplii as food killed more nauplii than were eaten. This phenomenon, tentatively called ‘over-hunting’, is possibly an important feeding behaviour for carnivorous copepods.
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