Salinity, temperature, density, nitrate concentration, transparency, chlorophyll a concentration, and quantity of zooplankton (as weights and numbers) were measured every fortnight at 173°48.5'E, 42°26'S, off Kaikoura, New Zealand, over 13 months from April 1964 to May 1965. All these data were used to assess the seasonal, successive, and advective changes that might have taken place in the plankton. Advective changes were the most important: invasions of oceanic subtropical water into a cold coastal situation, considered responsible for the extension of the phytoplankton bloom in spring; chlorophyll a maxima at depths expected of more transparent offshore waters; low average total zooplankton biomass (68 mg/m'); rapid fluctuations in zooplankton biomass and copepod numbers; increases in the number of oceanic copepod species captured; and the capture of euphausids with reduced fat reserves. All adult copepod species occurring in plankton samples from an area off Kaikoura on the east coast, South Island, New Zealand, are recorded, and discussed taxonomically where appropriate. Collections were made over a period of 13 months (April 1964 to May 1965) and represent samples taken inshore at the surface, over the continental slope to 200m, and in deeper water to 600m. A key to the pelagic Copepoda is given. |
