Dataset: Neocalanus copepod egg production is described from the Northern Gulf of Alaska for Fall 2015, 2016, 2017

Neocalanus flemingeri females were collected in September of 2015, 2016 and 2017 from Knight Island Passage in Prince William Sound, Northern Gulf of Alaska using a Midi MultiNet equipped with a 150 um mesh. Healthy females, taken from samples collected below 400m, were placed individually in 500 ml tissue culture flasks. 

Flasks were filled with seawater from Niskin bottles taken at the same depth as female collection, and sieved through a 35um mesh to remove metazoans.  The flasks were maintained in darkened incubators at a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. The animals were checked every 2-3 days for the presence of eggs or nauplli.

If production was observed, the female was transferred to a new flask and the eggs and nauplii were sieved from the container and counted under the microscope.  This procedure was continued until all of the females either died or were spawned out (i.e. no ovaries or lipid storage were still present).

For 2015, and 2016 the prosome length of the female was measured after the egg production had ceased. However this length may have not been representative if the females were diseased or dead.  Thus, for 2017 the female was photographed just before she was placed in the flask and the prosome length was measured directly from the scaled image.

Location of Animal Collection per cruise (station KIP2):

TXF15

• Latitude (decimal degrees): 60.275
• Longitude (decimal degrees): -147.987

TXF16

• Latitude (decimal degrees): 60.2752
• Longitude (decimal degrees): -147.989

TXF17

• Latitude (decimal degrees): 60.7313
• Longitude (decimal degrees): -147.987