Zooplankton from the Arctic Ocean and Adjacent Canadian Waters

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Author: Grainger, E. H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1965
• Subjects: General Medicine; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Strait; Beaufort Sea; Calanus glacialis; Canadian Archipelago; Central Arctic; Davis Strait; Zooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f65-049; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f65-049

Zooplankton collections from the Arctic Ocean, the Beaufort Sea, and northwestern Canadian coastal waters are described, along with physical characteristics of the waters sampled. About 50 species are included.The collections are compared with records from the central Arctic Ocean and other waters adjacent to the present region. The species are shown to fall into three groups. One is characteristic of the surface water of the Arctic Ocean, one of the Atlantic water and to a lesser extent the deep layer of the surface water of the Arctic Ocean, and one of the shallow peripheral seas of the Arctic Ocean.The surface water group includes eight species which account for more than 95% of the copepod individuals found in the surface layer, and which appear to be the only copepods which breed in the surface layer of the central Arctic Ocean. The same species are the major constituents of the zooplankton found in the waters of the Canadian arctic, from the Arctic Ocean to Davis Strait. The deeper Atlantic species of the Arctic Ocean, more numerous as species but far less numerous as individuals than those of the surface water, occur only very rarely in the surface layers, show no evidence of breeding there, and appear to be almost entirely absent from Canadian archipelago waters inside the shelf. Clear continuity of the Arctic Ocean surface fauna through the waters of the Canadian arctic is shown, along with the almost total exclusion from archipelago waters of the deeper Atlantic fauna. This intrusion of Atlantic species into the waters of arctic Canada appears to be almost entirely restricted to the southeast part of the region, especially Hudson Strait and adjacent waters.Development rates of two copepods in the Arctic Ocean, Microcalanus pygmaeus and Calanus glacialis, are discussed.