Abstract

Gelatinous carnivores are important components of the pelagic system and potentially key organisms in trophic webs, since they prey on several groups of organisms. In the Gullmar fjord many species of gelatinous organisms have been found exerting an important predatory impact on Acartia clausi, a dominant copepod of the mesozooplankton in this ecosystem. This work aims at evaluating the predatory impact of M. leydi and S. setosa on the community of copepods of the Gullmar fjord. These experiments were of functional-response type. In addition, length-weight regressions for predator biomass estimates were obtained. S. setosa showed a functional response Type II. By contrast, M. leidyi showed a linear functional response (Type I) with maximum ingestion (Imax) rates of 7 copepods ind-1 h-1 for individuals of length size between 7 and 15 mm. Sagitta setosa exhibited an Imax of 3.96 (copepods pred-1 h-1) with individuals in the size-range between 6 and 7 mm. The predatory impact of S. setosa and M. leidyi was high, suggesting that these species exert a strong impact on the mesozooplankton community of the Gullmar fjord.