Zooplankton Feeding Ecology: Contents of Fecal Pellets of the Cyclopoid Copepods Oncaea venusta, Corycaeus amazonicus, Oithona plumifera, and O. simplex from the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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<jats:p><jats:bold>Abstract. </jats:bold> <jats:italic>In situ</jats:italic> feeding habits of the cyclopoid copepods <jats:italic>Oncaea venusta, Corycaeus amazonicus, Oithona plumifera</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>O. simplex</jats:italic> were investigated by scanning electron microscope examination of fecal pellets, the contents of which reflected copepod gut contents upon capture. Peilet contents were compared with assemblages of phytoplankton present in surface waters at times of copepod collection. All samples were from the northern Gulf of Mexico. All four copepods fed upon phytoplankton and <jats:italic>O. venusta</jats:italic> also ingested other crustaceans. Dominant components of fecal pellets generally did not mirror those of available phytoplankton assemblages. In some cases, <jats:italic>O. venusta</jats:italic> ingested primarily larger‐sized particles even when these were not most abundant, and in other cases it did not ingest large cells even when they were present in bloom concentrations. The presence of small (< 2–5 urn diameter) centric diatoms in <jats:italic>O. venusta</jats:italic> pellets suggests the possibility of feeding by mechanisms other than suspension or raptorial feeding. Limited observations suggest that <jats:italic>C. amazonicus</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>O. plumifera</jats:italic> may feed raptorially on larger particles even when these are not particularly abundant, and that the small <jats:italic>O. simplex</jats:italic> (< 500 nm total length) feeds mainly upon nanoplankton. It appears that cyclopoid feeding mechanisms are complex, and likely more so than those of many calanoids.</jats:p>

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