Feeding of copepods on natural suspended particles in Tokyo Bay

Community grazing rates of copepods were estimated from data taken during three cruises in Tokyo Bay, based on bottle incubations and a temporal variation of gut fluorescence. Special attention was paid to the feeding selectivity in the estimations. Differential grazing was observed in the copepod communities:Acartia omorii, abundant in February, selectively fed on the particles of dominant size classes, whileOithona davisae, dominant throughout the year, andCentropages abdominalis selected large particles (>20µm). The maximum filtering rates on certain size classes were several times the average. In addition, a 34-hr investigation of the gut fluorescence of copepods revealed nocturnal feeding inParacalanus spp.,Pseudodiaptomus marinus andOithona davisae.Copepod communities collected with a net (95-µm mesh opening) were estimated to graze, in February 3.0%, in August 3.1–4.5% and in November 4.2–11.9% of the standing crops of phytoplankton or suspended particles per day.