Carbon content of Mnemiopsis leidyi eggs and specific egg production rates in northern Europe
Carbon content of Mnemiopsis leidyi eggs and specific egg production rates in northern Europe
Date
2014-10-10
Authors
Jaspers, Cornelia
Costello, John H.
Colin, Sean P.
Costello, John H.
Colin, Sean P.
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Keywords
Comb jelly
Ctenophore
Invasive species
Ctenophore
Invasive species
Abstract
The comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi is considered to be a successful invasive species, partly due to its high reproduction potential. However, due to the absence of direct carbon measurements of eggs, specific reproduction rates remain uncertain. We show that egg carbon is 0.22 ± 0.02 µg C and up to 21 times higher than previously extrapolated. With maximum rates of 11 232 eggs ind−1 day−1, largest animals in northern Europe invest ∼10% day−1 of their body carbon into reproduction.
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Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Plankton Research 37 (2015): 11-15, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbu102.