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Live discrimination of Calanus glacialis and C. finmarchicus females: can we trust phenological differences?

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An Erratum to this article was published on 02 September 2014

Abstract

Two key players in the Arctic and subarctic marine ecosystem are the calanoid copepods, Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis. Although morphologically very similar, these sibling species have different life cycles and roles in the Arctic pelagic marine ecosystem. Considering that the distribution of C. glacialis corresponds to Arctic water masses and C. finmarchicus to Atlantic water masses, the species are frequently used as climate indicators. Consequently, correct identification of the two species is essential if we want to understand climate-impacted changes on Calanus-dominated marine ecosystems such as the Arctic. Here, we present a novel morphological character (redness) to distinguish live females of C. glacialis and C. finmarchicus and compare it to morphological (prosome length) and genetic identification. The characters are tested on 300 live females of C. glacialis and C. finmarchicus from Disko Bay, western Greenland. Our analysis confirms that length cannot be used as a stand-alone criterion for separation. The results based on the new morphological character were verified genetically using a single mitochondrial marker (16S) and nuclear loci (six microsatellites and 12 InDels). The pigmentation criterion was also used on individuals (n = 89) from Young Sound fjord, northeast Greenland to determine whether the technique was viable in different geographical locations. Genetic markers based on mitochondrial and nuclear loci were corroborative in their identification of individuals and revealed no hybrids. Molecular identification confirmed that live females of the two species from Greenlandic waters, both East and West, can easily be separated by the red pigmentation of the antenna and somites of C. glacialis in contrast to the pale opaque antenna and somites of C. finmarchicus, confirming that the pigmentation criterion is valid for separation of the two species.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission FP7 EURO-BASIN project (Grant Agreement: 264 933), the Greenland Climate Research Centre (Project 6505) and the Norwegian Research Council (Project HAVKYST 216578). We would like to thank Mette D. Agersted for collecting Calanus from the East Greenland. We would like to thank the Arctic Station Qeqertarsuaq, University of Copenhagen that provided an excellent working platform on land as well as the captain and the crew on R. V. Porsild for great technical support at sea. We also thank Katharine Pemberton, Spyros Kollias and Marloes Poortvliet for their assistance with genotyping.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Oceanography and Climate, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergården 6, 2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark

    Torkel Gissel Nielsen & Sanne Kjellerup

  2. Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland

    Torkel Gissel Nielsen & Sanne Kjellerup

  3. Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, University of Nordland, 8049, Bodø, Norway

    Irina Smolina & Galice Hoarau

  4. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK

    Penelope Lindeque

Authors
  1. Torkel Gissel Nielsen
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  2. Sanne Kjellerup
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  3. Irina Smolina
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  4. Galice Hoarau
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  5. Penelope Lindeque
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Correspondence to Torkel Gissel Nielsen.

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Communicated by X. Irigoyen.

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Nielsen, T.G., Kjellerup, S., Smolina, I. et al. Live discrimination of Calanus glacialis and C. finmarchicus females: can we trust phenological differences?. Mar Biol 161, 1299–1306 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2419-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2419-5

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