Living on the edge: feeding of subtropical open ocean copepods

The objective of this study was to provide quantitative information on environmental feeding rates of warm water oceanic epipelagic copepods. We determined clearance rates at 23 °C for various particle size ranges in shipboard studies in the western oligotrophic subtropical Atlantic Ocean for females of the calanoid species Clausocalanus furcatus and Mecynocera clausii. These in situ clearance rates were then applied to the various particle size ranges of environmental particle spectra of auto‐ and heterotrophs at different depths from three stations in the western Atlantic. After calculating the metabolic demands of each of these two copepod species and applying an assimilation efficiency of 90%, we determined that C. furcatus meets its metabolic demands in all six cases, and M. clausii in two of six cases. Clausocalanus furcatus would also meet its energy demands at 25 °C, where it is often found, while M. clausii at 20 °C, where it is regularly found, would cover its metabolic needs in four of six cases. It is hypothesized that these species, and most likely most of the other co‐occurring copepod species, are limited in their abundance by food availability, or, better said, are ‘living on the edge’ in relation to food abundance.     

Growth and mortality of larval and juvenile Japanese seaperch Lateolabrax japonicus in relation to seasonal changes in temperature and prey abundance in the Chikugo estuary

Japanese seaperch Lateolabrax japonicus migrate from Ariake Bay to the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) zone of the Chikugo River and inhabit there through the post-migration period (15–20 mm in standard length). The feeding, growth and mortality during the post-migration period of Japanese seaperch were analyzed in relation to seasonal changes in temperature and prey concentration. Larvae and juveniles were collected from ten sampling stations at 4–7 day intervals from 24 February to 24 April 2005 in the Chikugo estuary. Based on the otolith microstructure analysis the sampled fish were divided into nine cohorts, each cohort covering a 5 day hatch date period (22 December 2004 to 4 February 2005). The growth coefficient (G, day⁻¹) was higher and the mortality coefficient (M, day⁻¹) was lower in the later cohorts. The ratio of G to M as an index of stage-specific survival during the post-migration period significantly increased as the season progressed and exceeded 1.0 in the last cohort examined. Variability in abundance of the major prey organism, Sinocalanus sinensis, had a significant effect on the Japanese seaperch ingestion rate. Increase in temperature and spring bloom of S. sinensis is concluded to provide the later cohorts with a higher survival probability through increasing ingestion and growth rates during their post-migration period in spring 2005.     

The influence of main ecological and environmental factors on the energy budget of Schlegel''s black rockfish Sebastes schlegeli

In the Maidao Ecological Laboratory of the Huanghai Sea Fisheries Research Institute in 1998 ~ 2000, the continuous flow-through method was adopted to determine the energy budget components and models of Schlegel＇ s black rockfish under different ecological and environmental factors, such as temperature, food species, body mass and feeding level, etc. The body mass of test fish ranged from 21.2 to 224.5 g. The specific growth rate tended to invert ＂U＂ change with temperature increase. The ecological conversion efficiency showed the same trend as temperature and feeding level rise. Only the specific growth rate tended to decelerate the increment with the rise of feeding level. From the above quantitative relationships, the maximum and optimal growth temper- atures could be obtained as 17.5 and 16.2 ℃, and the maintenance feeding rate and optimum feeding rate as 0.8% and 4. 1% of the body mass. The specific growth rate and ecological conversion coefficient showed a decelerating decrease trend with body mass increment. The small-sized fish food was more advantageous to the feeding level increase in comparison with the small-sized shrimp food, which led to the increase of growth, metabolism and excretion, but had no significant influence on the ecological conversion coefficient. All of temperature, feeding level, body mass and food species can obviously change the energy budget models. The assigning rate of growth energy tended to change along the invert ＂U＂ curve with the increase of temperature and feeding level, and decrease with the body mass increase, but the assigning rates of metabolism energy and excretion energy were quite reverse. These relationships could be quantitatively described as quadratic or power function curve. If the above relationships proved true to other marine fish, the establishment of energy budget model of the same fish under different conditions can be largely simplified.     

Obelia (Cnidaria,Hydrozoa, Campanulariidae): a microphagous,filter‐feeding medusa

Obelia is used in many zoology textbooks to exemplify the Hydrozoa life cycle. The body plan of Obelia medusae, however, is unique among the Hydrozoa. Contrary to all other hydromedusae, Obelia medusae do not derive from a medusary nodule, have neither a velum nor a subumbrellar cavity, the umbrella is flat, and swimming is achieved by umbrellar flapping and does not involve jet propulsion. The medusae of most Obelia species do not grow well on a diet of Artemia salina nauplii, the usual food for laboratory‐reared hydrozoans, and their rearing is often difficult. Previous observations reported that Obelia medusae might eat phytoplankton, driven to the mouth by movements of both the bell and the tentacles. To evaluate the efficiency of this feeding mechanism, we gave a suspension of genetically modified Escherichia coli expressing GFP to starved, newly released medusae of both O. dichotoma and Clytia hemisphaerica (the other campanulariid genus with medusae). Obelia medusae are able to concentrate bacteria in their gastric cavity, whereas Clytia medusae are not. Contrary to other Hydromedusae that are macrophagous, Obelia is a microphagous and filter‐feeding medusa, at least at the onset of its medusan life. As Cnidaria evolved before their current metazoan prey, their ancestral diet was probably microphagous. Obelia’s microphagous feeding habits could thus represent an example of the ancestral feeding condition in Cnidaria, but the apomorphic characters of its medusa suggest that its body architecture is not ancestral, and that its microphagy evolved relatively recently.     

南方池养牙鲆全人工配合饲料饲养试验

采用全人工配合饲料(试验组饲料)与湿颗粒饲料 (对照组饲料 )对南方池养牙鲆进行为期 204d的饲养试验.结果表明,试验组与对照组牙鲆的尾相对增重率分别为 2 304%、2 297%,尾平均日增重差异不大,平均饲料系数分别为 1. 56、2. 58,牙鲆增重 1kg所需饲料成本分别为 10. 92元和 13. 55元,试验组比对照组节省饲料成本2. 63元 /kg鱼增重;试验组与对照组牙鲆平均内脏比 (分别为 6. 50%、6. 38% )、平均丰满度(分别为 1. 09、1. 07)、肌肉粗蛋白含量、粗脂肪含量等差异不显著(p>0. 05),10种必需氨基酸和 5种鲜味氨基酸的含量很接近.由此可见,南方池养牙鲆采用全人工配合饲料饲养是完全可行的.     

四种重金属离子对侧扁软柳珊瑚的毒性及其摄食行为的影响

本实验通过48h的急性毒性测试,来了解重金属Cu2 、Zn2 、Cd2 、Pb2 的污染环境对侧扁软柳珊瑚(Subergorgiasuberosa)的影响程度,以认知重金属对海洋生物尤其是柳珊瑚所造成的伤害.实验的结果显示,Cu2 的半致死浓度约为0.13mg/dm3,Zn2 为8.69mg/dm3,而Cd2 为10.84mg/dm3,Pb2 为8.49mg/dm3;亦即Cu2 污染对侧扁软柳珊瑚毒性影响最大.另外,在实验的观察中也发现,受到伤害的珊瑚中常会刺激黏液的分泌,在较高的浓度下则会造成其共肉组织的溃烂致使整株珊瑚部分或整体的死亡.在摄食影响的研究方面,侧扁软柳珊瑚在Cu2 浓度分别为0.02、0.05mg/dm3的污染环境下捕食丰年虫(Chirocephalus)的行为与正常珊瑚间有明显差异(p<0.01),经过Cu2 污染环境后的珊瑚虫(polyp)常常不能有效地捕食到丰年虫,甚至捕食到丰年虫却不能将其顺利吞咽而造成丰年虫从其触手中逃逸.数据显示正常珊瑚虫捕食丰年虫的成功率平均达85.42%,而受0.02mg/dm3Cu2 影响的珊瑚虫则为57.58%,受0.05mg/dm3Cu2 影响的则仅为24.24%.