title: Prey detection in a cruising copepod.
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.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean Life and Section for Ocean Ecology and Climate, Technical University of Denmark, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Sanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjellerup
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiørboe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D033342:Copepoda / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006116:Greenland; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D055696:Olfactory Perception; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D055698:Touch Perception; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014872:Water Movements