Abstract
The cephalothorax length of the marine pelagic Copepoda Acartia clausi Giesbrecht, Temora longicornis (Müller), Centropages hamatus (Lilljeborg) and Pseudocalanus sp. was monitored at 15°C during prolonged cultivation through up to 55 filial generations and at different concentrations of food. The length of T. longicornis decreased considerably during the first 15 generations and remained rather constant thereafter. In the other species, body length increased slightly or remained almost constant. Genetic changes are probably involved. Food concentration influenced body size of all species, particularly C. hamatus, in which 80% of the natural size range may be explained by differences in food concentration. The idea that temperature is a dominant factor in determining the length of copepods should be reconsidered.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg
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Klein Breteler, W.C.M., Gonzalez, S.R. Influence of cultivation and food concentration on body length of calanoid copepods. Mar. Biol. 71, 157–161 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00394624
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00394624