EGG-PRODUCTION IN 3 SPECIES OF ANTARCTIC CALANOID COPEPODS DURING AN AUSTRAL SUMMER

Egg production in three species of calanoid copepods Rhincalanus gigas, Calanoides acutus and Calanus simillimus was investigated via incubations of females and recovery of eggs from net hauls made around South Georgia during January 1993. Average daily egg production was highest for the sub-Antarctic C. simillimus, (15.5 eggs female(-1) d(-1)). This species normally spawns in the spring in the central part of its geographical range but was apparently delayed by the colder waters found around South Georgia. For R. gigas and C. acutus egg production averaged 8.9 and 6.0 eggs female(-1) d(-1), respectively. The former species appeared to be undergoing protracted recruitment while the population of the latter was preparing to overwinter. Considerable inter-station variability existed, although no relationships were apparent between surface chlorophyll concentrations and either egg production in experiments or in the numbers of eggs recovered by the nets. Clutch size (eggs produced spawning female(-1) d(-1)) did not differ significantly between the three species although the maximum clutch size recorded for R. gigas (94 eggs) was almost twice that of C. simillimus. Samples taken from the Bellingshausen Sea during the latter part of 1992 indicated that recruitment of R. gigas and C. acutus commenced in early December in this region when adult females were concentrated in the surface 250 m and a diatom bloom was developing. Egg numbers were highest in the surface 50 m (up to 350 m(-3)) al both the Bellingshausen and South Georgia stations. At the latter site females migrated into these surface layers at night; thus it would appear that spawning is largely nocturnal and linked to diurnal migratory behaviour.