Feeding Preferences of Marine Harpacticoid Copepods for Various Species of Bacteria

Abstract

Selective feed~ng experiments were carried out in the laboratory with 4 species of marine harpacticoid copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) and several different strains of bacteria as food. Of the copepod species tested. Tisbe holothuriae and Paramphiascella vararensis were the most discnminating, whereas no clear preferences could be established for Nitocrella polychaeta and Amphiascoides debilis. The bacteria most attractive to the copepods include Moraxella-like species, Vibrio anguillarurn (pathogenic for certain fish) and 2 different Flavobacteriurn spp. A Micrococcus sp. was unattractive and possibly actively avoided by Tisbe, andto a lesser extentby Pararnph~ascella. The preferred strains of bacteria represent different morphological and physiological groups; all are Gramnegative. The Gram-posltive bacteria tested (cocci) were not significantly preferred by any of the harpacticoids used in the experiments.