Summary
The hyperiid amphipod, Themisto libellula, is abundant in Arctic seas and is an important prey for fish, birds and mammals. Characterization of its life cycle has been hampered by the lack of winter collections. In this study, that portion of the hyperiid population inhabiting the upper 30 m of the water column in Frobisher Bay was sampled periodically in winter, spring and summer during five consecutive years. In one year the winter and spring collections included large numbers of ovigerous females. These samples provide new information about timing of reproduction, size at maturity, fecundity, embryonic development, hatching, release and rate of growth of T. libellula in the Arctic. The average length of the ovigerous females was 23.3 mm. This and the summer growth rate of about 6 mm/month indicates that they can reproduce when one year old. Eggs are laid prior to early February, and although some young may be released from the marsupium as early as mid-March, most are liberated during April and May. The fecundity is significantly correlated with female length and an average 23 mm long individual had 275 embryos. The size-specific fecundity is similar to that of hyperiids from temperate and subtropical waters.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aarset AV (1987) Osmotic responses to hyposmotic stress in the amphipods Gammarus wilkitzkii, Onisimus glacialis and Parathemisto libellula from arctic waters. Polar Biol 7:189–193
Arnaud PM (1977) Adaptations within the Antarctic marine benthic ecosystem. In: Llano GA (ed) Adaptations within Antarctic Ecosystems. Smithson Inst, Wash, DC. pp 135–157
Behning AL (1939) Die amphipoda-Hyperiidea der den Fernen Osten der UdSSR umgrenzenden Meere. Intern Rev Ges Hydrobiol Hydrogr 38:353–367
Bigelow HB (1926) Plankton of the offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine. Bull Bur Fish Wash 40:509 pp
Bogorov BG (1940) On the biology of the Euphausiidae and Chaetognatha in the Barents Sea. Bull Soc Naturalistes Moscou, NS 49(2):3–18
Bousfield EL (1951) Pelagic amphipoda of the Belle Isle Strait Region. J Fish Res Board Can 8(3):134–163
Bovallius C (1889) Contributions to a monograph of the Amphipoda Hyperiidea, Part I: 2, the families Cyllopodidae, Paraphronimidae, Thaumatopsidae, Mimonectidae, Hyperiidae, Phronimidae, and Anchylomeridae. Kongliga Svensk Vet Akad Handl 22:1–434
Bowman TE (1960) The pelagic amphipod genus Parathemisto (Hyperiidea: Hyperiidae) in the north Pacific and adjacent Arctic Ocean. Proc US Acad Sci 112(3439):343–392
Bradstreet MSW (1980) Thick-billed murres and black guillemots in the Barrow Strait area, N.W.T., during spring: diets and food availability along ice edges. Can J Zool 58:2120–2140
Bradstreet MSW (1982) Pelagic feeding ecology of dovekies, Alle alle, in Lancaster Sound and western Baffin Bay. Arctic 35(1):126–140
Bradstreet MSW, Cross WE (1982) Trophic relationships at high arctic ice edges. Arctic 35(1):1–12
Clarke A (1979) On living in cold water: K-strategies in Antarctic benthos. Mar Biol 55:111–119
Digby PSB (1954) The biology of the marine plankton copepods of Scoresby Sound, East Greenland. J Anim Ecol 23(2):298–338
Dudlich E von (1926) Systematische und biologische Studien an den PhronimaArten des Golfes von Neapel. Zool Anz 65:117–139
Dunbar MJ (1940) On the size distribution and breeding cycles of four marine planktonic animals from the Arctic. J Anim Ecol 9(2):215–226
Dunbar MJ (1941a) On the food of seals in the Canadian eastern Arctic. Can J Res 19(D):150–155
Dunbar MJ (1941b) The breeding cycle in Sagitta elegans arctica Aurivillius. Can J Res 19(D):258–266
Dunbar MJ (1942) Marine macroplankton from the Canadian eastern Arctic. I. Amphipoda and Schizopoda. Can J Res 20(D):33–46
Dunbar MJ (1946) On Themisto libellula in Baffin Island coastal waters. J Fish Res Board Can 6(6):419–434
Dunbar MJ (1957) The determinants of production in northern seas: a study of the biology of Themisto libellula. Can J Zool 35:797–819
Einarsson H (1945) Euphausiacea: I. Northern Atlantic species. Carlsberg Foundation, Dana Report 27:1–185
Evans F (1968) Development and reproduction of Parathemisto gracilipes (Norman) (Amphipoda, Hyperiidea) in the North Sea. Crustaceana 15:101–109
Gaston AJ, Cairns DK, Elliot RD, Noble DG (1985) A natural history of Digges Sound. Can Wildl Serv Rep Ser 46:63 pp
Grainger EH (1953) On the age, growth, migration, reproductive potential and feeding habits of the arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. J Fish Res Board Can 10(6):326–370
Grainger EH (1971a) Biological oceanographie observations in Frobisher Bay. I. Physical, nutrient and primary production data, 1967–1971. Fish Res Board Can Tech Rep 265–75 pp
Grainger EH (1971b) Biological oceanographie observations in Frobisher Bay. II. Zooplankton Data 1967–1970. Fish Res Board Can Tech Rep 266:61 pp
Grainger EH (1975) A marine ecology study in Frobisher Bay, Arctic Canada. In: Cameron TWM, Billingsley LW (eds) Energy flow — its biological dimensions. A summary of the IBP in Canada 1964–1974. Roy Soc Can Ottawa pp 261–266
Grainger EH (1989) Vertical distribution of Zooplankton in the central Arctic Ocean. In: Rey L, Alexander V (eds) Proceedings of the sixth conference of the Comité Arctique International, 13–15 May, 1985. E.J. Brill, New York, pp 48–60
Grainger EH, Hsiao SIC (1982) A study of the ice biota of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island 1979–1981. Can MS Rep Fish Aquat Sci 1647:128 p
Grainger EH, Mohammed AA, Lovrity JE (1985) The sea ice fauna of Frobisher Bay, Arctic Canada. Arctic 38(1):23–30
Harbison GR (1976) Development of Lycaea pulex Marion, 1874 and Lycaea vincentii Stebbing, 1888 (Amphipoda, Hyperiidea). Bull Mar Sci 26(2): 152–164
Kane JE (1963) Stages in the early development of Parathemisto gaudichaudii (Guér.) (Crustacea Amphipoda: Hyperiidea), the development of secondary sexual characters and of the ovary. Trans Roy Soc New Zealand (Zool) 3(5):35–45
Laval P (1968) Développement en élevage et systématique d'Hyperia schizogeneios Stebb. (Amphipode Hypéride). Arch Zool Exp Gen 109:25–67
Laval P (1980) Hyperiid amphipods as crustacean parasitoids associated with gelatinous zooplankton. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev 18:11–56
Loenne OJ, Gulliksen B (1989) Size, age and diet of polar cod, Boreogadus saida (Lepechin 1973) in ice covered waters. Polar Biol 9(3):187–191
Lowry LF and Frost KJ (1984) Foods and feeding of bowhead whales in western and northern Alaska. Sci Rep Whales Res Inst, Tokyo 35:1–16
Maclaren IA (1958) The biology of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida Schreber) in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Fish Res Board Can Bull 118:97 pp
Mel'nikov IA (1989) Ecology of Arctic Ocean cryopelagic fauna. In: Herman Y (ed) The Arctic seas: climatology, oceanography, geology and biology. Van Nostrand Reinholt, New York, pp 235–255
Metz P (1967) On the relations between Hyperia galba Montagu (Amnphipoda, Hyperiidae) and its host Aurelia aurita in the Isefjord area (Sjaelland, Denmark). Vidensk Medd Dansk Naturh Foren 130:85–108
Myers AA (1971) Breeding and growth in laboratory-reared Microdeutopus gryllotalpa Costa (Amphipoda: Gammaridea). J Nat Hist 5:271–277
Percy JA (1989) Abundance, biomass, and size frequency distribution of an arctic ctenophore, Mertensia ovum (Fabricius) from Frobisher Bay, Canada. Sarsia 74:95–105
Percy JA, Fife FJ (1985a) Summertime abundance and depth distribution of macrozooplankton in Frobisher Bay, N.W.T. from 1978 to 1983. Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 503:63 pp
Percy JA, Fife FJ (1985b) Size-frequency distributions of the dominant macrozooplankton in Frobisher Bay, N.W.T. during the open water season. Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 538:117 pp
Percy JA, Fife FJ Shea J Riebel PR (1988) Seasonal changes in abundance and size frequency distribution of the dominant macrozooplankton in Frobisher Bay, N.W.T. Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 705:208 pp
Sainte-Marie B (1991) A review of the reproductive bionomics of aquatic gammaridean amphipods: variation of life history traits with latitude, depth, salinity and superfamily. Hydrobiology 223:189–227
Sainte-Marie B, Brunel P (1983) Differences in life history and success: between suprabenthic shelf populations of Arrhis phyllonyx (Amphipoda, Gammaridea) in two ecosystems of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. J Crust Biol 3:45–69
Shea JR, Percy JA (1990) Salinity tolerance and osmoregulation of the arctic marine amphipods Onisimus litoralis. (Kroyer) and Anonyx nugax (Phipps). Polar Biol 10:275–281
Sheader M (1977) Breeding and marsupial development in laboratory-maintained Parathemisto gaudichaudi (Amphipoda). J Mar Biol Assoc UK 57:943–954
Sheader M, Chia FS (1970) Development, fecundity and brooding behaviour of the amphipod, Marinogammarus obtusatus. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 50:1079–1099
Siegfried CA (1985) Life history, population dynamics and production of Pontoporeia hoyi (Crustacea, Amphipoda) in relation to the trophic gradient of Lake George, New York. Hydrobiology 122:175–180
Siegfried WR (1965) Observations on the amphipod Parathemisto gaudichaudi (Guer.) off the west coast of South Africa. Zool Afric 1(1):339–352
Westernhagen H von (1976) Some aspects of the biology of the hyperiid amphipod Hyperoche medusarum. Helgol Wiss Meeres 28:43–50
Williams R, Robins D (1981) Seasonal variability in abundance and vertical distribution of Parathemisto gaudichaudi (Amphipoda: Hyperiidea) in the north east Atlantic Ocean. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 4:289–298
Wing BL (1976) Ecology of Parathemisto libellula and P. pacifica (Amphipoda: Hyperiidea) in Alaskan coastal waters. Northwest Fish Cent Proc Rep March 1976. US Nat Mar Fish Serv 266 pp
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Percy, J.A. Reproduction and growth of the Arctic hyperiid amphipod Themisto libellula Mandt. Polar Biol 13, 131–139 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238546
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238546