Abstract:
This study was conducted to compare the growth of three harpacticoid species which are
Schizopera knabeni, Paradactylopodia oculata, and Robertsonia knoxi cultured in
laboratory condition and also to observe their generation time and morphology changes
(nauplii, copepodite, and adult). These harpacticoid copepods were obtained from
seagrass patch at Merchang estuaries and cultured under laboratory controlled with
temperature ranging between 24-27
°c and salinity around 16-26 ppt for 40 days.
Copepods cultures were fed with 0.1 ml of baker's yeast (0.02 g/ L) daily. For population
growth, P. oculata showed the highest population growth and the growth was more
stable, while, S. knabeni showed the lowest population growth. The duration in their
morphology changes was different for each species where S. knabeni showed the shorter
generation time of life cycle that was 7 - 14 days than R. knoxi and P. oculata. The
generation time for morphology changes of R. knoxi was between 9 - 19 days.
Meanwhile, generation time of P. oculata was longer compared to two other species that
was 14 - 21 days. Thus, high population growths of harpacticoid species are not strongly
depending on the generation time of their life cycle.
