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Influence of food organisms on the development and culture of pelagic copepods

Influence des organismes alimentaires sur le développment et la culture de copépodes pélagiques

Extrait

Au cours d'expériences de nutrition réalisées surEuterpina acutifrons, 16 espèces d'algues ont été comparées. Dans les cultures débutées avec des copépodes adultes, seules 4 algues permettent à la population de s'accroître à un taux comparable à ce qui est obtenu lorsque les algues sont en solutions plurispécifiques. Dans les cultures débutées avec des oeufs, certaines algues qui permettaient à une population adulte d'évoluer ne sont pas favorables au développement complet de l'animal à travers ses stades juvéniles. L'influence de la concentration en nourriture dans le milieu de culture a été déterminée pour 5 espèces d'algues. Une relation directe peut être mise en évidence entre la concentration en nourriture dans le milieu de culture et le taux journalier d'ingestion ou le taux de production d'oeufs chezEuterpina acutifrons adulte. Le taux journalier de filtration est en relation inverse. Taux d'ingestion journalier et taux de production des oeufs atteignent un plateau qui se situe à un niveau différent et est atteint à une concentration variable pour les 5 algues expérimentées. Ces résultats permettent de mettre en évidence l'importance de la taille des cellules d'algue, de leurs qualités nutritionnelles et de leur concentration; ces différents paramètres influencent la propagation du copépode en culture. De fait, lors d'essais de mise en culture de nouvelles espèces de copépodes, le nombre d'algues et leur concentration furent accrus dans les solutions; ces conditions nous ont permis de maintenir en laboratoire à travers plusieurs générations certains calanoîdes pélagiques tels queCentropages typicus, Acartia clausi, Ctenocalanus vanus etClausocalanus acuicornis en plus de deux harpacticoïdes:Euterpina acutifrons etTigriopus brévicornis.

Summary

1. Growth rates of populations started with adultEuterpina acutifrons fed on 16 different unicellular algae, and 2 mixtures of these algae, were compared. Only algae of medium size can support growth rates as high as those obtained in the mixture. Smaller algae (6–7 µ) or wider ones (> 16 µ) give lower rates or do not support adult survival.

2. Of 5 algae tested, only those of medium size support all developmental stages from egg to adult ofEuterpina acutifrons. These results show that the size of food is one of the factors limiting the production of copepods under laboratory conditions.

3. By feeding adult females ofEuterpina acutifrons onPlatymonas suecica at various concentrations, it was demonstrated that, when the food concentration increases, the rate of ingestion and the egg production of the copepod increases thereby reaching a plateau, while the rate of filtration decreases.

4. The same relation is found for the 5 algae tested in regard to ingestion and filtration activities. However, for the 5 algal species, the concentration at which the plateau is reached, and the value of ingestion at this plateau, are quite different.

5. When feeding femaleEuterpina acutifrons in excess unicellular solutions of the 5 algae or a mixture of all the algae used, egg production and adult life span differs according to the type of the food algae. Algal species which result in low egg production and short adult life span are most intensively ingested in terms of biomass.

6. By increasing the number of algal species and their concentration in the culture solution, we were able to cultivate some additional pelagic copepods through several generations.

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Contribution under the “Association Contract CNEN-EURATOM”; Publication N0 538 of the EURATOM Biology Division.

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Nassogne, A. Influence of food organisms on the development and culture of pelagic copepods. Helgolander Wiss. Meeresunters 20, 333–345 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01609911

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