Abundance of nauplii and protein synthesis activity of adult female copepods in the Kuroshio front during the Japanese sardine spawning season |
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| Authors: | Kaoru Nakata |
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| Institution: | (1) National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, 5-5-1, Kachidoki, Chuo-ku, 104 Tokyo, Japan |
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| Abstract: | In order to point out the potential importance of the Kuroshio front as a feeding ground for the early post larvae of the Japanese sardine, distributions of copepod nauplii—the principal food for the larvae—were investigated.Nauplii were abundant in and near the front and in a warm water mass off Ensyu-nada, where the concentration of chlorophylla was high. Adult females ofParacalanus sp. were dominant in the copepod group there, and the protein synthesis activity shown by the RNA/DNA ratio was high. It is expected that copepod egg productivity is enhanced in the area where food phytoplankton is abundant, because the RNA/DNA ratio showed a positive correlation to chlorophylla in situ.In and near the front, high chlorophylla concentration—which is probably supported by nutrient supply caused by local upwelling and/or eddies at the front—contributes to the high RNA/DNA ratio of the copepods. The relatively large biomass of copepod nauplii at the front may be supported by female's high egg productivity. It is supposed, as a result, that food availability for the early post larvae of the Japanese sardine is increased in and near the Kuroshio front. |
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