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Updated: May 26, 2026

Individual Culturing of Tigriopus Copepods and Quantitative Analysis of Their Mate-guarding Behavior
Published on: September 26, 2018
Prey detection in a cruising copepod
Sanne Kjellerup1, Thomas Kiørboe
1Centre for Ocean Life and Section for Ocean Ecology and Climate, Technical University of Denmark, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
Abstract:
Small cruising zooplankton depend on remote prey detection and active prey capture for efficient feeding. Direct, passive interception of prey is inherently very inefficient at low Reynolds numbers because the viscous boundary layer surrounding the approaching predator will push away potential prey. Yet, direct interception has been proposed to explain how rapidly cruising, blind copepods feed on non-motile phytoplankton prey. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism for prey detection in a cruising copepod, and describe how motile and non-motile prey are discovered by hydromechanical and tactile or, likely, chemical cues, respectively.
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