CHEMICAL-COMPOSITION AND OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION RATES OF THE CTENOPHORE BOLINOPSIS-INFUNDIBULUM FROM THE GULF-OF-MAINE

Quantitative determinations of chemical composition and oxygen consump tion rates were made for a deep-living population of the lobate ctenop hore Bolinopsis infundibulum. Animals were collected in the Gulf of Ma ine with the submersible 'Johnson-Sea-Link' during September 1989 at d epths ranging from 120 to 240 m. Carbon and nitrogen contents were sim ilar to values reported for epipelagic ctenophores. Lipid and protein levels were lower than values typical of epipelagic ctenophores, but h igher than those of mesopelagic species. Carbohydrate was nearly an or der of magnitude higher than previously recorded for B. infundibulum. Oxygen consumption rates ranged from 0.004 to 0.235 mul O2 mg-1 dry we ight h-1 at temperatures ranging from 5 to 7-degrees-C. Carbon-specifi c metabolic rates ranged from 0.21 to 12.73 mul O2 mg-1 C h-1. Energy expenditures estimated from respiration data (approximately 3% body C day-1) indicated that up to 350 small copepods (e.g. Pseudocalanus sp. ) or 23 larger copepods (e.g. Calanus finmarchicus) would be necessary to provide the daily maintenance ration required by a 92 mm B.infundi bulum. These metabolic characteristics suggest that B. infundibulum co uld have a significant impact on prey populations in the Gulf of Maine .