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Feeding ecology and energetics of the Antarctic chaetognaths Eukrohnia hamata, E. bathypelagica and E. bathyantarctica

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Abstract

Ecological and physiological studies focused on dietary preferences, lipid biochemistry and energetics within the three Antarctic chaetognaths Eukrohnia hamata, E. bathypelagica and E. bathyantarctica from meso- and bathypelagic depths. Eukrohnia hamata and E. bathypelagica respired 0.15 μL O2 mg dry mass (DM)−1 h−1, which translates to an average metabolic loss of only <1.1% of body carbon per day. Lipid storage was not substantial in E. bathypelagica (mean 11.5 ± 6.5% DM) and E. bathyantarctica (mean 15.4 ± 4.1% DM) during summer and winter, suggesting year-round feeding of these predators mainly on copepods. In E. bathypelagica, total fatty acids were dominated by the fatty acids 16:0, 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3) and in E. bathyantarctica also by 18:1(n-9), a fatty acid usually found in storage lipids. Only the latter species was characterized by significant amounts of wax esters, consisting largely of the common fatty alcohols 16:0, 20:1(n-9) and the unusual fatty alcohol isomer 22:1(n-9).

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the captains and the crew of RV “Polarstern” for their professional support during ANT 23-6 and ANT 24-2. We also thank Petra Wencke for analyzing the lipids and fatty acids during this study and Martin Graeve for fatty acid confirmation by GC–MS. Helpful and constructive comments on the manuscript by Gerhard Kattner, Martin Graeve and three anonymous reviewers are highly appreciated. This publication is part of the doctoral thesis of Svenja Kruse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Svenja Kruse & Ulrich Bathmann

  2. Marine Zoology, University of Bremen, P.O. Box 33 04 40, 28334, Bremen, Germany

    Wilhelm Hagen

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  1. Svenja Kruse
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  2. Wilhelm Hagen
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  3. Ulrich Bathmann
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Correspondence to Svenja Kruse.

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Communicated by S. A. Poulet.

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Kruse, S., Hagen, W. & Bathmann, U. Feeding ecology and energetics of the Antarctic chaetognaths Eukrohnia hamata, E. bathypelagica and E. bathyantarctica . Mar Biol 157, 2289–2302 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1496-3

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