Egg production rates of Calanus finmarchicus in the Northwest Atlantic (Labrador sea)

Egg production rates and population characteristics of Calanus finmarchicus were examined in the Labrador Sea during the spring of 1994. Several experiments were conducted in order to compare egg production rates and clutch size using different types of container and in the presence and absence of food. In one series of experiments, individual females were incubated either in petri dishes or in polycarbonate bottles (80 mL) in filtered seawater. In these experiments, clutch sizes and egg production rates were not significantly different. In a second series of experiments, groups of 20 females were placed in containers under three sets of conditions: in the presence of food and with a screen to separate copepods from their eggs (FSCREEN), in the presence of food without a screen (FOOD), and in filtered seawater without a screen (FSW). Average egg production rates of female C. finmarchicus were significantly higher in the FSCREEN treatments than in either of the other two. In these experiments, egg production rates were not obviously related to ingestion rates, and these in vitro observations together with observations of in situ conditions suggest that stored reserves may have been used to fuel, or supplement, reproduction in C. finmarchicus in this area.