Abstract:

During the summer cruise of R/V JIDI in 1992/1993 filtration rate and ingestion rate of Antarctic krill Euphausta superba Dana were measured by constant volume incubation, flow-through incubation and gut fluorescence method in the southern part of the Scotia Sea and in the Prydz Bay region. The mean filtration rate obtained by different methods ranged form 189. 8 to 459. 6 ml/h for sub-adult (60.6～205. 4 mg dry weight), and 253. 6～902. 1ml/h for adult (166. 8～598. 7 mg dry weight). No significant methedological effect was found on measurement of filtration rate if suitable experimental conditions were used with special respect to animal density and vessel volume. Within the range of food concentration (0. 44～3. 05μg chl-α/l) of our experiments. The ingestion rate increased with the increasing of food concentration, while the filtration rate didn't increase. The ingestion rate obtained by gut fluorescence method had no correlation with ambient chlorophyll α concentration.

Key words: filtration rate, ingestion rate, Antarctic krill, Southern Ocean