Copepod nauplii are either ambush feeders that feed on motile prey or they produce a feeding current that entrains prey cells. It is unclear how ambush and feeding-current feeding nauplii perceive and capture prey. Attack jumps in ambush feeding nauplii should not be feasible at low Reynolds numbers due to the thick viscous boundary layer surrounding the attacking nauplius. We use high-speed video to describe the detection and capture of phytoplankton prey by the nauplii of two ambush feeding species (Acartia tonsa and Oithona davisae) and by the nauplii of one feeding-current feeding species (Temora longicornis). We demonstrate that the ambush feeders both detect motile prey remotely. Prey detection elicits an attack jump, but the jump is not directly towards the prey, such as has been described for adult copepods. Rather, the nauplius jumps past the prey and sets up an intermittent feeding current that pulls in the prey from behind towards the mouth. The feeding-current feeding nauplius detects prey arriving in the feeding current but only when the prey is intercepted by the setae on the feeding appendages. This elicits an altered motion pattern of the feeding appendages that draws in the prey.

Copepod nauplii move in a world dominated by viscosity. Their swimming-by-jumping propulsion mode, with alternating power and recovery strokes of three pairs of cephalic appendages, is fundamentally different from the way other microplankters move. Protozoans move using cilia or flagella, and copepodites are equipped with highly specialized swimming legs. In some species the nauplius may also propel itself more slowly through the water by beating and rotating the appendages in a different, more complex pattern. We use high-speed video to describe jumping and swimming in nauplii of three species of pelagic copepods: Temora longicornis, Oithona davisae and Acartia tonsa. The kinematics of jumping is similar between the three species. Jumps result in a very erratic translation with no phase of passive coasting and the nauplii move backwards during recovery strokes. This is due to poorly synchronized recovery strokes and a low beat frequency relative to the coasting time scale. For the same reason, the propulsion efficiency of the nauplii is low. Given the universality of the nauplius body plan, it is surprising that they seem to be inefficient when jumping, which is different from the very efficient larger copepodites. A slow-swimming mode is only displayed by T. longicornis. In this mode, beating of the appendages results in the creation of a strong feeding current that is about 10 times faster than the average translation speed of the nauplius. The nauplius is thus essentially hovering when feeding, which results in a higher feeding efficiency than that of a nauplius cruising through the water.

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Production, abundance and mortality of the copepod Acartia tonsa were studied for a period of 9 d in a hyper-eutrophic estuary, Mariager Fjord, Denmark. The estuary is characterised by oxygen-depleted and often sulphidic bottom water, and a relatively sparse mesozooplankton community with low species diversity. During the study, an intense phytoplankton bloom consisting mainly of the diatom Skeletonema costatum developed with chlorophyll a concentrations reaching 46 μg l , and egg hatching success was > 90%, yet the abundance of copepods remained low (1 to 3 nauplii l ). Calculated daily copepod mortality ranged from 18% for nauplii, 16% for Copepodite Stage C1, up to 70% for C2 and C3, then declining for older stages. The vertical distribution of copepodites in relation to the depth range of mussel beds suggests strong predation by suspension-feeding Mytilus edulis at depths of 5 to 10 m. Moreover, anoxia and the presence of sulphide in deep water, which prevented hatching of A. tonsa eggs and decreased the survivorship of older life stages sinking below 20 m depth, further contributed to the low copepod abundance.

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