Abstract
Abstract. Oxygen consumption rates were assessed for two meiobenthic crustaceans inhabiting a subtidal sandflat at Carrie Bow Cay, Barrier Reef of Belize. The micro‐isopod Microcharon sabulumKensley 1984 was confined to the surface substrate layers. Lightiella incisaGooding 1963 (Cephalocarida) occurred in deeper substrate strata below the redox potential discontinuity layer. Respiration rates were measured using the “Stoppered Cartesian Diver” method at normoxic conditions. The aim was to obtain information on the metabolic level of a representative of the conservative crustacean taxon, the Cephalocarida, and to check whether the hypothesis of lower metabolic levels in benthic animals occurring in anoxic sediment strata is also applicable for this group. The results obtained show that the weight‐specific and weight‐scaled respiration rates in Lightiella are in the same range as the values obtained for Microcharon. This indicates that under normoxic conditions no “capacity” adaptation in the form of a controlled lower metabolic rate occurs in Lightiella. This is in contrast to the situation in nematodes and gnathostomulids living in or below the redox potential discontinuity layer.
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