ABSTRACT: Feeding experiments were carried out on board RV 'Polarstern' in February 1994 in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica, to investigate carnivorous feeding in dominant large calanoid copepods. Adult females of the winter diapause species Calanoides acutus and Rhincalanus gigas did not feed on females of the poecilostomatoid copepod Oncaea curvata. In contrast, adult Calanus propinquus and Metridia gerlachei females, which remain active during winter, fed on O. curvata females. However, no feeding on O. curvata females by juvenile M. gerlachei was observed. Additional food sources, such as detritus and small protozooplankton, are suggested, because the amount of animal prey ingested is not sufficient to meet the energy demands of the investigated species.

KEY WORDS: Copepod . Carnivorous feeding . Antarctic

Published in MEPS Vol. 129 (1995) on December 14
ISSN: 0171-8630. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1995