Natural feeding rates of Centropages typicus females in the New York Bight1

Based on measurements of the removal rate of small particles from natural seawater, the ingestion rate of adult females of the copepod Centropages typicus is almost always less than maximal. A survey of particle concentrations in the New York Bight indicated that the concentrations used in our feeding experiments were representative of concentrations encountered by this species. In addition to the particle removal method, a gut fluorescence method was used to calculate natural ingestion rates of phytoplankton particles. Comparable rates resulted from both methods. We believe that for this organism, ingestion rates are closely related to food quality because the range of natural food concentrations is rather narrow.