Egg production of the coastal copepods Acartia tonsa, Temora stylifera e Temora turbinata from Cassino Beach - RS, southern Brazil

Abstract

The egg production of the copepods Acartia tonsa, Temora stylifera and Temora turbinata was studied in laboratory. Male and female individuals of each species were collected from the natural environment and kept in laboratory conditions, at the temperature of 20 +- 1ºC, salinity of 30 +- 2, photoperiod of 12h:12h and fed with the microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata and Chaetoceros calcitrans offered in abundance. Experiments had a duration of 5 days, and the first day reflected the egg production under the environment influence. Females showed a great individual variability in the egg production and followed a pattern of continuous production without interruptions in the spawning. For Acartia tonsa the mean eggs.female-1.day-1 varied between 14 and 34 eggs, for Temora stylifera between 7 and 45 eggs.female-1.day-1, and for Temora turbinate between 5 and 21 eggs.female-1.day-1. In general, the relative production at the first 24 hours didn’t differ significantly of that found in culture conditions, indicating a good potential of culture for these studied species.