Abstract
The seasonal vertical migration of adultCalanus hyperboreus Krøyer and their female reproductive biology have been studied in the central Greenland Sea, based on 7-month coverage during one annual cycle. Females dwelled in surface waters only between April and July. Gonad maturation began after the summer descent into deeper waters between September and October in the absence of food. Breeding was assessed from gonad development and egg production experiments. It started around the beginning of November and was mostly completed by March/April, before the spring ascent. The overwintering depth of females ranged from close to the surface to 3000 m, and mature females had a preference for shallower depths. Males were mostly found during the breeding period, where they inhabited the 500- to 1000-m layer. Female dry weight was highest in August and November and lowest in February. Field observations were supplemented by observations on gonad development and egg production of females, which were collected in June and August and kept in the laboratory for up to 6 months. Clutch size, spawning interval and fecundity were determined at 0°C. Females collected in June were mature earlier. Due to their low dry weight, they developed only small gonads and very few of them spawned. Females from August were much fatter and produced up to 1000 eggs in several clutches deposited at regular intervals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apollonio S (1961) The chlorophyll content of Arctic sea ice. Arctic 14:197–200
Brodskii KA, Nikitin MN (1955) Hydrobiological work. In: Observational data of the scientific research drifting station of 1950–1951. Trans Am Meteorol Soc. DDC Doc AD 117135, pp 404–465
Budéus G, Maul AA, Krause G (1993) Variability in the Greenland Sea as revealed by a repeated high spatial resolution conductivity-temperature-depth survey. J Geophys Res 98:9985–10000
Conover RJ (1962) Metabolism and growth inCalanus hyperboreus in relation to its life cycle. Rapp PV Reun Cons Perm Int Explor Mer 153:190–197
Conover RJ (1965) Notes on the molting cycle, development of sexual characters and sex ratio inCalanus hyperboreus. Crustaceana 8:308–320
Conover RJ (1967) Reproductive cycle, early development, and fecundity in laboratory populations of the copepodCalanus hyperboreus. Crustaceana 13: 61–72
Conover RJ (1988) Comparative life histories in the generaCalanus andNeocalanus in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Hydrobiologia 167/168:127–142
Conover RJ, Siferd TD (1993) Dark-season survival strategies of coastal zone zooplankton in the Canadian Arctic. Arctic 46:303–311
Dawson JK (1978) Vertical distribution ofCalanus hyperboreus in the central Arctic Ocean. Limnol Oceanogr 23:950–957
Digby PSB (1954) The biology of the marine planktonic copepods of Scoresby Sound, East Greenland. J Anim Ecol 23:298–338
Grainger EH (1965) Zooplankton from the Arctic Ocean and adjacent Canadian waters. J Fish Res Board Can 22:543–564
Head EJH, Harris LR (1985) Physiological and biochemical changes inCalanus hyperboreus from Jones Sound NWT during the transition from summer feeding to overwintering condition. Polar Biol 4:99–106
Hirche HJ (1990) Egg production ofCalanus finmarchicus at low temperature. Mar Biol 106:53–58
Hirche HJ (1991) Distribution of dominant calanoid copepod species in the Greenland Sea during late fall. Polar Biol 11:351–362
Hirche HJ, Bohrer RN (1987) Reproduction of the Arctic copepodCalanus glacialis in Fram Strait. Mar Biol 94:11–17
Hirche HJ, Mumm N (1992) Distribution of dominant copepods in the Nansen Basin, Arctic Ocean, in summer. Deep Sea Res 39 [Suppl 2]:S485-S505
Johnson MW (1963) Zooplankton collections from the high polar basins with special reference to the Copepoda. Limnol Oceanogr 8:89–102
Lee RF (1974) Lipid composition of the copepodCalanus hyperboreus from the Arctic Ocean: changes with depth and season. Mar Biol 26:313–318
Matthews JBL, Hestad L, Bakke JLW (1978) Ecological studies in Korsfjorden, Western Norway. The generations and stocks ofCalanus hyperboreus andC. finmarchicus in 1971–1974. Oceanol Acta 1:277–284
Østvedt OJ (1955) Zooplankton investigations from weathership “M” in the Norwegian Sea, 1984–49. Hvalrådets Skr 40:1–93
Peterson WT (1988) Rates of egg production by the copepodCalanus marshallae in the laboratory and in the sea off Oregon, USA. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 47:229–237
Romeis B (1968) Mikroskopische Technik. Oldenburg, München, Wien
Rudyakov YA (1983) Vertical distribution ofCalanus hyperboreus (Copepoda) in the Central Arctic basin. Oceanology 23:249–254
Smith SL (1990) Egg production and feeding by copepods prior to the spring bloom of phytoplankton in the Fram Strait area of the Greenland Sea. Mar Biol 106:59–69
Smith SL, Schnack-Schiel SB (1990) Polar zooplankton. In: Smith WO (ed), Polar oceanography — part B — chemistry, biology, geology. Academic Press, New York, pp 527–598
Sømme JD (1934) Animal plankton of the Norwegian coast waters and the open sea. I. Production ofCalanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus) andC. hyperboreus (Krøyer) in the Lofoten area. Fiskeri Dir Skr Ser Havunders 4:1–163
Ussing HH (1938) The biology of some important plankton animals in the fjords of East Greenland. Medd Groen 100:1–108
Wiborg KF (1954) Investigations on zooplankton in coastal and offshore waters off western and northwestern Norway. Rep Norw Fish Invest 11:1–246
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hirche, HJ., Niehoff, B. Reproduction of the Arctic copepodCalanus hyperboreus in the Greenland Sea-field and laboratory observations. Polar Biol 16, 209–219 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02329209
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02329209