The swimming and feeding behavior of Mesocyclops

The swimming and feeding behaviors of Mesocyclops are described from a review of the literature and personal observations. Mesocyclops exhibits considerable behavioral flexibility in response to environmental stimuli. Mesocyclops edax exhibits an increase in horizontal looping behavior at high prey densities, and performs a tight vertical looping behavior in response to the loss of captured prey. Ingestion rates by Mesocyclops are a complex function of prey density, morphology, and behavior in addition to prey size. Vertebrate predators induce a rapid escape response in Mesocyclops and may be responsible at least in part for their extensive diel vertical migrations. The complex behavioral patterns of Mesocyclops suggest that its distribution and abundance in nature will be distinctly nonrandom and influenced as much by its own behavioral responses as by other external physical factors such as water circulation patterns.