Feeding of nauplius stages of Eudiaptomus gracilis on mixed plastic beads

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Abstract
Eudiaptomus gracilis makes up 30–40 and 80–90% of the zooplankton in Lake Balaton during the summer and the winter respectively. More than half of the species population consists of nauplii We studied feeding and size selectivity of nauplii in suspensions which contained polystyrol latex beads in a concentration dose to the natural seston. Guts of NI nauplii were free of both beads and remnants of natural food Of NII–NVI nauplii, 67–87% took in beads. Older animals consumed more and larger particles. The maximum diameter of ingested beads reached 29 μm On an average, NII nauplii took in 128 μm3 of beads in 10 min, whereas older animals consumed 615–900 μm3. The clearance rate remained below 0 01 μl h−1 NII nauplii strongly preferred 1 2 μm particles Older nauplii did not show any preference or selected only slightly for the smallest particles. Nauplii rejected 4–11 μm beads. In some cases a weak positive selection could be observed toward 12 μm or larger beads.

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