Estimation of the minimum food requirement using the respiration rate of medusa of Aurelia aurita in Sihwa Lake

Abstract

We examined the respiration rate of Aurelia aurita medusae at 20 °C and 28 °C to evaluate minimum metabolic demands of medusae population in Sihwa Lake, Korea during summer. While weight specific respiration rates of medusae were constant and irrespective to the wet weight (8–220 g), they significantly varied in respect to temperatures (p<0.001, 0.11±0.03 mg C g⁻¹ of medusa d⁻¹ at 20°C and 0.28±0.11 mg C g⁻¹ of medusa d⁻¹ at 28 °C in average, where Q ₁₀ value was 2.62). The respiration rate of medusae was defined as a function of temperature (T, °C) and body weight (W, g) according to the equation, R=0.13×2.62^(T-20)/10 W ^0.93. Population minimum food requirement (PMFR) was estimated from the respiration rate as 15.06 and 4.86 mg C m⁻³ d⁻¹ in June and July, respectively. During this period, increase in bell diameter and wet weight was not significant (p=1 in the both), suggesting that the estimated PMFR closely represented the actual food consumption in the field. From July to August, medusae grew significantly at 0.052 d-1, thus the amount of food ingested by medusae population in situ was likely to exceed the PMFR (1.27 mg C m⁻³ d⁻¹) during the period. In conclusion, the medusae population of higher density during June and July had limited amount of food, while those of lower in July and August ingested enough food for growth.