Seasonal Distribution, Egg Production and Feeding by the Marine Copepod Calanus sinicus in Asan Bay, Korea

Seasonality in abundance and egg production was investigated for Calanus sinicus in Asan Bay, Korea, and feeding effort was measured in the laboratory condition. Although abundances of this species in this bay showed only one Peak in spring, egg Production showed two peaks, spring and fall, in this bay. Potential of year-round egg Production was also found. Food availability judged by the particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration was usually more than enough in this bay. High egg Production in fall resulted in spring Peak in abundance. But high egg Production in spring did not result in summer or fall Peak in abundance. Low abundances in summer and fall were believed to be the result of long range horizontal migration out to the central Part of the Yellow Sea. The highest average egg Production by the Population of this species was 16.3 eggs female-'day-'. Maximum e99 Production by an individual was 39.0 e99s female$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$, which yielded 30.7% of specific egg Production rate in terms of body carbon content with the carbon contents of 44.44$^{\mu}$gC and 0.35 $^{\mu}$gC for individual adult female and egg, respectively. Clearance rate (F) measured in the laboratory condition decreased exponentially with the increase of food concentrations, as expected. The asymptote of F was 3.17 ml copepod$^{-1}$ h$^{-1}$. When this value and the minimum concentration of POC measured in the field were applied under the assumption of continuous feeding in the nature, the calculated gross efficient of egg production was 41.6% in case of average egg production of the population. Violation of the assumption of diurnal feeding rhythm and application of the minimum concentration of POC may offset the influence on calculation each other.