Vertical copepod aggregations and interactions with chlorophyll and production on the Peru shelf

Abstract

Data consisting of high resolution profiles of in situ chlorophyll fluorescence and copepods have been measured with a towed Batfish on the Peru shelf during November 1977. The day to day vertical variability of chlorophyll fluorescence was highly complex; however, there were indications of common features consisting of a surface chlorophyll layer about 10 to 15 m thick and a subsurface chlorophyll maximum at about 25-m depth. Of the dominant copepods measured, Eucalanus inermis, Calanus chilensis, and Centropages brachiatus, the latter two were aggregated in layers at about 15 to 20 m directly within a depression located between the surface and subsurface chlorophyll layer. Primary production profiles estimated from light and chlorophyll data indicated that carbon production was generally restricted to the surface layer (≈15m). Estimates of integrated carbon production (m −2) within the surface layer ranged from 1.3 to 1.5 g C m −2 d −3. Copepod grazing estimates indicated that only 10% of daily carbon production was utilized.