They mature from their diapause stage spent below 500 m, remaining there to mate
and then spawn. Nutrition for egg formation is drawn from stored lipids and other
tissue components. The nauplii are provided with abundant oil droplets and rise as
they develop (Saito & Tsuda 2000).
Fig. 8.3 Mean daily egg production of two groups of C. finmarchicus females that
immediately after capture were first fed copiously on diatoms. (a) After 12 days of
increasing per capita egg output, one group (N = 10) was switched to filtered water
(shaded bar on the abscissa). (b) The other group (N = 25) was continued on a rich
diet. Egg production dropped quickly to zero in the starved group. After feeding of
starved individuals, their spawning slowly resumed but did not reach the level mostly
sustained by the continuously fed group.
(^) (After Niehoff 2000.)
Spawning rate data of high quality have been gathered for many copepod species in