Temora longicornis

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Temora longicornis
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Hexanauplia
Subclass: Copepoda
Order: Calanoida
Family: Temoridae
Genus: Temora
Species:
T. longicornis
Binomial name
Temora longicornis
(Müller O.F., 1785) [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Cyclops longicornis Muller, 1785
  • Diaptomus longicaudatus Lubbock, 1857
  • Halitemora finmarchica Giesbrecht, 1881
  • Halitemora longicornis (Müller O.F., 1785)
  • Temora finmarchica Baird, 1850

Temora longicornis is a species of copepod in the family Temoridae. It is found in marine environments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Contents

Distribution and habitat

In North America this copepod occurs between Cape Cod and Florida. In some years it is the commonest calanoid in the winter and spring in the mid-Atlantic region, and sometimes also in summer and autumn in Long Island Sound. It tends to be less abundant in estuaries than in open stretches of coast. [2]

Ecology

Temora longicornis makes daily vertical migrations, spending the day near the seabed and the night near the surface. [2] Males can swim faster than females, and 3D tracking has shown that males can follow a detectable trail left by females. Sometimes they follow it in the wrong direction. [3]

This copepod is an omnivore; diatoms are a major part of the diet and phytoplankton is also grazed. [2] This copepod is preyed on heavily by the sand lance in the northwestern Atlantic. [2] It also forms an important part of the diet of the herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in the southern Baltic Sea in the autumn, at which time the copepods are particularly plentiful. [4]

This species' eggs float near the surface before they hatch and the developing larvae move deeper into the water column at each successive moult. The species has been shown to sometimes produce diapausing eggs in the summer months of June and July in Long Island Sound. When this happens, it results in a reduction in the quantity of zooplankton at that time of year. The eggs are buried in the sediment for a species-specific length of time and then hatch, moving into the water column as nauplius larvae as they develop. In the North Sea, dormancy takes place in winter. [5]

Related Research Articles

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Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water that are unable to propel themselves against a current. The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucial source of food to many small and large aquatic organisms, such as bivalves, fish and whales.

Cod Common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus

Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus Gadus is commonly not called cod.

Clupeidae Family of fishes

Clupeidae is a family of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important food fishes in the world, and are also commonly caught for production of fish oil and fish meal. Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid scales, a single dorsal fin, and a fusiform body for quick, evasive swimming and pursuit of prey composed of small planktonic animals. Due to their small size and position in the lower trophic level of many marine food webs, the levels of methylmercury they bioaccumulate are very low, reducing the risk of mercury poisoning when consumed.

Herring Forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae

Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae.

Atlantic herring Species of fish

Atlantic herring is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can grow up to 45 centimetres (18 in) in length and weigh up to 1.1 kilograms (2.4 lb). They feed on copepods, krill and small fish, while their natural predators are seals, whales, cod and other larger fish.

Sprat Common name for several kinds of forage fish

Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus Sprattus in the family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish. Like most forage fishes, sprats are highly active, small, oily fish. They travel in large schools with other fish and swim continuously throughout the day.

European sprat Species of fish

The European sprat, also known as bristling, brisling, garvie, garvock, Russian sardine, russlet, skipper or whitebait, is a species of small marine fish in the herring family Clupeidae. Found in European waters, it has silver grey scales and white-grey flesh. Specific seas in which the species occurs include the Irish Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Sea of the Hebrides. The fish is the subject of fisheries, particularly in Scandinavia, and is made into fish meal, as well as being used for human consumption. When used for food it can be canned, salted, breaded, fried, boiled, grilled, baked, deep fried, marinated, broiled, and smoked.

Demersal zone The part of the water column near to the seabed and the benthos

The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean consisting of the part of the water column near to the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of the larger profundal zone.

<i>Calanus finmarchicus</i> Species of crustacean

Calanus finmarchicus is a species of copepods and a part of zooplankton, which is found in enormous amounts in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

European anchovy Species of fish

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Forage fish Small fish which are prey

Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the food chain on plankton, often by filter feeding. They include particularly fishes of the family Clupeidae, but also other small fish, including halfbeaks, silversides, smelt such as capelin and goldband fusiliers.

Coastal fish

Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than 200 metres (660 ft) deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally epipelagic fish, inhabiting the sunlit epipelagic zone. Coastal fish can be contrasted with oceanic fish or offshore fish, which inhabit the deep seas beyond the continental shelves.

European pilchard Species of fish

The European pilchard is a species of ray-finned fish in the monotypic genus Sardina. The young of the species are among the many fish that are sometimes called sardines. This common species is found in the northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea at depths of 10–100 m (33–328 ft). It reaches up to 27.5 cm (10.8 in) in length and mostly feeds on planktonic crustaceans. This schooling species is a batch spawner where each female lays 50,000–60,000 eggs.

The M74 syndrome is a reproduction disorder of salmon feeding in the Baltic Sea. M74 manifests as offspring mortality during the yolk-sac fry phase. Before dying, the yolk-sac fry display typical symptoms. Thiamine deficiency in eggs is the immediate cause of M74 mortality. The deficiency can be prevented by thiamine treatments. For the first time Bulgarian research team opines that with M74 syndrome are affected also male gametes and worsened parameters of the spermiogram. The use of Bulgarian semen protective media 49282, 49283 and 49397 for trout sperm fertility improving was proposed.

<i>Merluccius merluccius</i> Species of fish

Merluccius merluccius, the European hake, is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius. Other vernacular names include Cornish salmon and herring hake. It is a predatory species which was often netted alongside one of its favoured prey, the Atlantic herring, thus the latter common name. It is found in the eastern Atlantic from the Norway and Iceland south to Mauritania and into the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important species in European fisheries and is heavily exploited with some populations thought to be being fished unsustainably.

Ichthyoplankton The eggs and larvae of fish that drift in the water column

Ichthyoplankton are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the epipelagic or photic zone. Ichthyoplankton are planktonic, meaning they cannot swim effectively under their own power, but must drift with the ocean currents. Fish eggs cannot swim at all, and are unambiguously planktonic. Early stage larvae swim poorly, but later stage larvae swim better and cease to be planktonic as they grow into juveniles. Fish larvae are part of the zooplankton that eat smaller plankton, while fish eggs carry their own food supply. Both eggs and larvae are themselves eaten by larger animals.

<i>Clupea</i> Genus of fishes

Clupea is genus of planktivorous bony fish belonging to the family Clupeidae, commonly known as herrings. They are found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two main species of Clupea are currently recognized: the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring, which have each been divided into subspecies. Herrings are forage fish moving in vast schools, coming in spring to the shores of Europe and America, where they form important commercial fisheries.

<i>Temora stylifera</i> Species of crustacean

Temora stylifera is a copepod primarily found in the Atlantic and surrounding waters.

<i>Lernaeenicus sprattae</i> Species of crustacean

Lernaeenicus sprattae is a species of copepod in the family Pennellidae. It is a parasite of the European sprat and certain other fish and is sometimes known as the sprat eye-maggot.

References

  1. 1 2 T. Chad Walter (2015). Walter TC, Boxshall G (eds.). "Temora longicornis (Müller O.F., 1785)". World of Copepods database. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, William S.; Allen, Dennis M. (2012). Zooplankton of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts: A Guide to Their Identification and Ecology. JHU Press. p. 170. ISBN   978-1-4214-0618-3.
  3. Doall, Michael H.; Colin, Sean P.; Strickler, J. Rudi; Yen, Jeannette (1998). "Locating a mate in 3D: the case of Temora longicornis". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 353 (1369): 681–689. doi:10.1098/rstb.1998.0234. PMC   1692248 .
  4. Casini, Michele; Cardinale, Massimiliano; Arrhenius, Fredrik (2004). "Feeding preferences of herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in the southern Baltic Sea". ICES Journal of Marine Science. 61 (8): 1267–1277. doi: 10.1016/j.icesjms.2003.12.011 .
  5. Gibson, R.N.; Barnes, Margaret (2002). Oceanography and Marine Biology. CRC Press. pp. 261–262. ISBN   978-0-203-50172-6.