Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Vertical distribution, abundance and community structure of oncaeid copepods in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Pacific

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The vertical distribution, abundance and community structure of oncaeid copepods were investigated in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Pacific. Samples were collected with a 0.10 mm mesh closing type net from five discrete layers down to a maximum depth of 2,000 m in September and December 1996 and in April and October 1997. The copepods were widely distributed from epipelagic to bathypelagic zones, and showed prominent peaks of abundance above the thermocline and/or between 250 and 1,000 m depth. Standing stocks of total oncaeid copepods ranged from 1.5 to 2.5×105 inds m−2 at 0–2,000 m in the water column, which are the same order of magnitudes as those reported in tropical, subtropical and polar regions by previous workers. A total of 38 species and two forms belonging to the genera Oncaea, Triconia, Spinoncaea, Conaea and Epicalymma, and two provisionally classified species of the family Oncaeidae were identified in this study. Of these, 14 species have already been recorded from the eastern subarctic Pacific. Several warm-water species were also found in December 1996 and/or October 1997, when the effect of warm-core rings originating from the Kuroshio Current was evident in the epipelagic zone. Dominant species throughout the whole water column were T. borealis, T. canadensis, O. grossa, O. parila, O. rimula, O. lacinia, Epicalymma spp. and Oncaea sp. A, and these eight species together always made up about half of the total oncaeid numbers. Community analysis revealed that species composition in epipelagic and upper mesopelagic zones varied temporally due to the changes of hydrographic conditions, whereas those in lower mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones were relatively stable, reflecting the constancy of deep environments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1 A
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Auel H, Hagen W (2002) Mesozooplankton community structure, abundance and biomass in the central Arctic Ocean. Mar Biol 140:1013–1021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Böttger R (1987) The vertical distribution of micro- and small mesozooplankton in the central Red Sea. Biol Oceanogr 4:383–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1988) Observation on the taxonomic composition and vertical distribution of cyclopoid copepods in the central Red Sea. Hydrobiologia 167/168:311–318

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1990a) Community structure and vertical distribution of cyclopoid copepods in the Red Sea. Ι. Central Red Sea, autumn 1980. Mar Biol 106:473–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1990b) Community structure and vertical distribution of cyclopoid copepods in the Red Sea. II. Aspects of seasonal and regional differences. Mar Biol 106:487–501

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1994) The microcopepod fauna in the eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Seas: a comparison with the Red Sea fauna. Hydrobiologia 292/293:271–282

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1995) Summer distribution of micro- and small mesozooplankton in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with special reference to non-calanoid copepods. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 118:81–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1996) Vertical structure of small metazoan plankton, especially non-calanoid copepods. Ι. Deep Arabian Sea. J Plankton Res 18:1073–1101

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1997) Vertical structure of small metazoan plankton, especially non-calanoid copepods. II. Deep eastern Mediterranean (Levantine Sea). Oceanol Acta 20:399–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (1999) Taxonomy of Oncaeidae (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida) from the Red Sea. Ι. 11 species of Triconia gen. nov. and a redescription of T. similis (Sars) from Norwegian waters. Mitt Hamb Zool Mus Inst 96:37–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (2001) Taxonomy of Oncaeidae (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida) from the Red Sea. II. Seven species of Oncaea s. str. Bull Br Mus (Nat Hist) Zool 67:25–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (2002) Taxonomy of Oncaeidae (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida) from the Red Sea. VI. Morphology and zoogeography of Oncaea bispinosa sp. nov., a sister taxon of O. zernovi Shmeleva. J Plankton Res 24:1107–1129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R (2003) Taxonomy of Oncaeidae (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida) from the Red Sea. V. Three species of Spinoncaea gen. nov. (ivlevi-group), with notes on zoogeographical distribution. Zool J Linn Soc 137:187–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R, Boxshall GA (1990) Two new Oncaea species (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) from the Red Sea. J Plankton Res 12:861–871

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R, Huys R (2004) Size polymorphism in Oncaea venusta Philippi, 1843 and the validity of O. frosti Heron, 2002: a commentary. Hydrobiologia 513:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Böttger-Schnack R, Hagen W, Schnack-Schiel SB (2001) The microcopepod fauna in the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea: species diversity and distribution of Oncaeidae (Poecilostomatoida). J Plankton Res 23:1029–1035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boxshall GA (1977) The depth distributions and community organization of the planktonic cyclopoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) of the Cape Verde Islands region. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 57:543–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray JR, Curtis JT (1957) An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecol Mongr 27:325–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowles TJ, Roman MR, Gauzens AL, Copley NJ (1987) Short-term changes in the biology of a warm-core ring: zooplankton biomass and grazing. Limnol Oceanogr 32:653–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Deevey GB, Brooks AL (1977) Copepods of the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda: species composition, and vertical and seasonal distribution between the surface and 2,000 m. Bull Mar Sci 27:256–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Furuhashi K (1966) Studies on the vertical distribution of copepods in the Oyashio region east of Japan and in the Kuroshio region south of Japan. Publ Seto Mar Biol Lab Spec Publ Ser 14:295–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Haury L, Fey C, Gal G, Hobday A, Genin A (1995) Copepod carcasses in the ocean. I. Over seamounts. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 123:57–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Heron GA (1977) Twenty-six species of Oncaeidae (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) from the southwest Pacific Antarctic area. In: Pawson DL (ed) Biology of the Antarctic seas. VI. Antarct Res Ser 26:37–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Heron GA, Bradford-Grieve JM (1995) The marine fauna of New Zealand: pelagic Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida: Oncaeidae. NZ Oceanogr Inst Mem 104:1–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Heron GA, Frost BW (2000) Copepods of the family Oncaeidae (Crustacea: Poecilostomatoida) in the northeast Pacific Ocean and inland coastal waters of Washington State. Proc Biol Soc Wash 113:1015–1063

    Google Scholar 

  • Heron GA, English TS, Damkaer DM (1984) Arctic Ocean Copepoda of the genera Lubbockia, Oncaea, and Epicalymma (Poecilostomatoida: Oncaeidae), with remarks on distributions. J Crustac Biol 4:448–490

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirst AG, Lampitt RS (1998) Towards a global model of in situ weight-specific growth in marine planktonic copepods. Mar Biol 132:247–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopcroft RR, Roff JC, Webber MK, Witt JDS (1998) Zooplankton growth rates: influence of size and resources in tropical marine copepodites. Mar Biol 132:67–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins TL, Torres JJ (1988) The zooplankton community in the vicinity of the ice edge, western Weddell Sea, March 1986. Polar Biol 9:79–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikeda T, Kanno Y, Ozaki K, Shinada A (2001) Metabolic rates of epipelagic marine copepods as a function of body mass and temperature. Mar Biol 139:587–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawamura A (1989) Fast sinking mouth ring for closing Norpac net. Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 55:1121

    Google Scholar 

  • Kobari T, Ikeda T (2000) Life cycle of Neocalanus species in the Oyashio region (in Japanese with English abstract). Bull Plankton Soc Jpn 47:129–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosobokova K, Hirche HJ (2000) Zooplankton distribution across the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic Ocean: species inventory, biomass and vertical structure. Deep-Sea Res I 47:2029–2060

  • Kršinić F (1998) Vertical distribution of protozoan and microcopepod communities in the South Adriatic Pit. J Plankton Res 20:1033–1060

    Google Scholar 

  • Kršinić F, Malt SJ (1985) Little known species of small Oncaeidae (Cyclopoida) from the South Adriatic. J Plankton Res 7:189–199

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackas DL, Tsuda A (1999) Mesozooplankton in the eastern and western subarctic Pacific: community structure, seasonal life histories, and interannual variability. Prog Oceanogr 43:335–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malt SJ (1983) Studies on the taxonomy and ecology of the marine copepod genus Oncaea Philippi. PhD thesis, University of London, London

  • Malt SJ, Lakkis S, Ziedane R (1989) The copepod genus Oncaea (Poecilostomatoida) from Lebanon: taxonomic and ecological observations. J Plankton Res 11:949–969

    Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe CJ, Miller CB (1975) Patterns of vertical distribution and migration of zooplankton at ocean station ”P”. Limnol Oceanogr 20:824–844

    Google Scholar 

  • Metz C (1995) Seasonal variation in the distribution and abundance of Oithona and Oncaea species (Copepoda, Crustacea) in the southeastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Polar Biol 15:187–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Metz C (1996) Life strategies of dominant Antarctic Oithonidae (Cyclopoida, Copepoda) and Oncaeidae (Poecilostomatoida, Copepoda) in the Bellingshausen Sea (in German with English abstract). Ber Polarforsch 207:1–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller CB, Frost BW, Batchelder HP, Clemons MJ, Conway RE (1984) Life histories of large grazing copepods in a subarctic ocean gyre: Neocalanus plumchrus, Neocalanus cristatus, and Eucalanus bungii in the Northeast Pacific. Prog Oceanogr 13:201–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minoda T (1971) Pelagic copepoda in the Bering Sea and the northwestern North Pacific with special reference to their vertical distribution. Mem Fac Fish Hokkaido Univ 18:1–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Motoda S (1959) Devices of simple plankton apparatus. Mem Fac Fish Hokkaido Univ 7:73–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Nishiuchi K (1999) Studies on life cycle and interannual variability of chaetognaths (carnivorous zooplankton) in the northern North Pacific (in Japanese). PhD thesis, Hokkaido University, Hakodate

  • Ohtani K (1971) Studies on the changes of the hydrographic conditions in the Funka Bay. II. Characteristics of the waters occupying the Funka Bay. Bull Fac Fish Hokkaido Univ 22:58–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson JB [MS] (1949) The pelagic cyclopoid copepods of the coastal waters of Oregon, California and Lower California. PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley

  • Richter C (1994) Regional and seasonal variability in the vertical distribution of mesozooplankton in the Greenland Sea. Ber Polarforsch 154:1–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Sameoto DD (1986) Influence of the biological and physical environment on the vertical distribution of mesozooplankton and micronekton in the eastern tropical Pacific. Mar Biol 93:263–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Scotto di Carlo B, Ianora A, Fresi A, Hure J (1984) Vertical zonation patterns for Mediterranean copepods from the surface to 3000 m at a fixed station in the Tyrrhenian Sea. J Plankton Res 6:1031–1056

    Google Scholar 

  • Shmeleva AA (1969) Espèces nouvelles du genre Oncaea (Copepoda, Cyclopoida) de la mer Adriatique. Bull Inst Oceanogr (Monaco) 68:1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsalkina AV (1977) Vertical distribution and diurnal migrations of Cyclopoida (Copepoda) in the waters of the North Trade Winds Current and the Sulu Sea. Pol Arch Hydrobiol 24[Suppl]:337–362

  • Webber MK, Roff JC (1995) Annual structure of the copepod community and its associated pelagic environment off Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Mar Biol 123:467–479

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi A, Ikeda T (2000a) Vertical distribution, life cycle and body allometry of two oceanic calanoid copepods (Pleuromamma scutullata and Heterorhabdus tanneri) in the Oyashio region, western North Pacific Ocean. J Plankton Res 22:29–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi A, Ikeda T (2000b) Vertical distribution, life cycle, and developmental characteristics of the mesopelagic calanoid copepod Gaidius variabilis (Aetideidae) in the Oyashio region, western North Pacific Ocean. Mar Biol 137:99–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi A, Ikeda T (2001) Abundance and population structure of three mesopelagic Paraeuchaeta species (Copepoda: Calanoida) in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Pacific Ocean with notes on their carcasses and epizoic ciliates. Plankton Biol Ecol 48:104–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi A, Watanabe Y, Ishida H, Harimoto T, et al (2002) Community and trophic structures of pelagic copepods down to greater depths in the western subarctic Pacific (WEST-COSMIC). Deep-Sea Res I 49:1007–1025

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. R. Böttger-Schnack for her continuous support of our study and for reviewing an earlier draft; her constructive comments significantly improved the manuscript. We appreciate Dr. H. Itoh who kindly provided taxonomical information and unpublished data on oncaeid copepods around Japan. We thank Drs. A. Yamaguchi and T. Kobari who collected samples for this study, and Mr. M. Okegawa for providing the information about satellite altimetry at Site H. This work was supported partly by JSPS KAKENHI 14209001.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan

    Y. Nishibe & T. Ikeda

Authors
  1. Y. Nishibe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. Ikeda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Nishibe.

Additional information

Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nishibe, Y., Ikeda, T. Vertical distribution, abundance and community structure of oncaeid copepods in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Pacific. Marine Biology 145, 931–941 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1392-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1392-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation