Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea
The Ctenophora Mertensia ovum and Beroe cucumis, collected using both conventional sampling gear and scuba divers, were studied in the Barents Sea east of Bjørnøya and North Norway in spring 1987 and summer 1988. Among the gelatinous zooplankton, Mertensia ovum was the most consistently abundant cop...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
1991
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/2333 2023-05-15T15:13:37+02:00 Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea Swanberg, Neil Båmstedt, Ulf 1991-01-12 application/pdf https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333/5583 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333 doi:10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research Polar Research; Vol. 10 No. 2 (1991): Special issue: Proceedings of the Pro Mare Symposium on Polar Marine Ecology. Part 2; 507-524 1751-8369 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 1991 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 2021-11-11T19:12:32Z The Ctenophora Mertensia ovum and Beroe cucumis, collected using both conventional sampling gear and scuba divers, were studied in the Barents Sea east of Bjørnøya and North Norway in spring 1987 and summer 1988. Among the gelatinous zooplankton, Mertensia ovum was the most consistently abundant copepod predator. Feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the predation rate of M. ovum in various trophic regimes. This ctenophore can take prey varying in size from small copepods to amphipods and krill, but gut-content analyses from field-collected specimens as well as experimental results showed that the main food source for adults was large-sized copepods (e.g. Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis, C. hyperboreus, Metridia longa). The robust tentacle arrray of M. ovum makes this species effective as a predator on large prey. The high potential predation rate of this ctenophore relative to its estimated metabolic cost of only 1.7% of the body energy content d?1 suggests that M. ovum may be able to maintain a positive energy balance even in conditions of low prey abundance. It is suggested that a single exploitation of a zooplankton patch may provide energy for survival for a very long time. The potential impact of M. ovum on Barents Sea copepod populations is estimated on the basis of the minimal observed average daily ration in experiments and from field data on gut contents. Using abundances of copepods for the area, and the actual predator biomass collected, it was estimated that an average of 0.7% of the copepod fauna per day could fall prey to this predator. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Barents Sea Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Calanus finmarchicus North Norway Polar Research Zooplankton Copepods Polar Research (E-Journal) Arctic Barents Sea Norway Bjørnøya ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) Polar Research 10 2 507 524 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
description |
The Ctenophora Mertensia ovum and Beroe cucumis, collected using both conventional sampling gear and scuba divers, were studied in the Barents Sea east of Bjørnøya and North Norway in spring 1987 and summer 1988. Among the gelatinous zooplankton, Mertensia ovum was the most consistently abundant copepod predator. Feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the predation rate of M. ovum in various trophic regimes. This ctenophore can take prey varying in size from small copepods to amphipods and krill, but gut-content analyses from field-collected specimens as well as experimental results showed that the main food source for adults was large-sized copepods (e.g. Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis, C. hyperboreus, Metridia longa). The robust tentacle arrray of M. ovum makes this species effective as a predator on large prey. The high potential predation rate of this ctenophore relative to its estimated metabolic cost of only 1.7% of the body energy content d?1 suggests that M. ovum may be able to maintain a positive energy balance even in conditions of low prey abundance. It is suggested that a single exploitation of a zooplankton patch may provide energy for survival for a very long time. The potential impact of M. ovum on Barents Sea copepod populations is estimated on the basis of the minimal observed average daily ration in experiments and from field data on gut contents. Using abundances of copepods for the area, and the actual predator biomass collected, it was estimated that an average of 0.7% of the copepod fauna per day could fall prey to this predator. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Swanberg, Neil Båmstedt, Ulf |
spellingShingle |
Swanberg, Neil Båmstedt, Ulf Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
author_facet |
Swanberg, Neil Båmstedt, Ulf |
author_sort |
Swanberg, Neil |
title |
Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
title_short |
Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
title_full |
Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ctenophora in the Arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) in the Barents Sea |
title_sort |
ctenophora in the arctic: the abundance, distribution and predatory impact of the cydippid ctenophore mertensia ovum (fabricius) in the barents sea |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
1991 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Bjørnøya |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Bjørnøya |
genre |
Arctic Barents Sea Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Calanus finmarchicus North Norway Polar Research Zooplankton Copepods |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Calanus finmarchicus North Norway Polar Research Zooplankton Copepods |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol. 10 No. 2 (1991): Special issue: Proceedings of the Pro Mare Symposium on Polar Marine Ecology. Part 2; 507-524 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333/5583 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2333 doi:10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v10i2.6762 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
507 |
op_container_end_page |
524 |
_version_ |
1766344151744380928 |