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Harpacticoid copepod respiration: Enhydrosoma propinquum and Longipedia helgolandica

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Abstract

Oxygen consumption rates of 2 harpacticoid copepods, one benthic, Enhydrosoma propinquum (Brady) and one benthopelagic, Longipedia helgolandica (Klie), were determined and compared with those of the pelagic harpacticoid Euterpina acutifrons. The respiratory rates of the 3 species differed significantly and could be correlated with activity patterns and habitat preferences. E. propinquum consumed the least oxygen, E. acutifrons an intermediate amount, and L. helgolandica the most per unit dry weight. Gravid L. helgolandica had a lower metabolic rate than the non-gravid females. The lower values for the gravid females most likely reflected the metabolic activity of the developing egg mass. Harpacticoids may be important contributors to total meiobenthic metabolism, since they respire more per unit weight than do nematodes.

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Author notes

  1. B. C. Coull

    Present address: Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA

  2. W. B. Vernberg

    Present address: Belle W. Baruch Institute for Estuarine and Littoral Science, University of South Carolina, 29208, Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA

    W. B. Vernberg

Authors
  1. B. C. Coull
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  2. W. B. Vernberg
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Additional information

Communicated by G. L. Voss, Miami

Supported by NSF Grant GB-8189 to Duke University Cooperative Program in Biological Oceanography (BCC) and NSF Grant 7435 (WBV).

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Coull, B.C., Vernberg, W.B. Harpacticoid copepod respiration: Enhydrosoma propinquum and Longipedia helgolandica . Marine Biology 5, 341–344 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346900

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346900

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