INFLUENCE OF THE CAPE COD CANAL ON THE HYDROGRAPHY AND ON THE COPEPODS IN BUZZARDS BAY AND CAPE COD BAY, MASSACHUSETTS. II. RESPIRATION AND FEEDING1

Abstract

Respiration and feeding experiments were carried out on Calanus finmarchicus, Pseudocalanus minutus, Labidocera aestiva, Acartia tonsa, and A. clausi. The relationship between metabolism‐temperature and the feeding‐temperature curves appears to be correlated with the distribution of these species in nature. There was apparently some seasonal adaptation, but the high metabolic rate of some species in spring could not be attributed to temperature alone. Tests on Calanus finmarchicus and Centropages hamatus indicated that salinity may also become a limiting factor in the distribution of copepods. The amount of organic matter consumed is much larger than that calculated from respiratory rates. The assimilation of the food consumed thus seems to be quite low, perhaps as low as 10% or even less.