Copepods as live feed an overview

In what follows, progress on the culture techniques for copepods, recent revelations on biochemical content and developments for use of copepods in larval rearing are reviewed. 

Copepod species in laboratory cultures usuailly belong to one of three of the ten orders of copepods, the Cadamoida, Hairpacticoida amd Cyclopoida. Dussart and Defaye (2001) and Sazhina (2006) provide comprehensive 

Most cultures described are batch systems with regular water exchange, although there are promising developments with continuous or automated systems. A comprehensive list of mass culture systems is provided by 

St0ttrup (2003), and Drillet et al. (2011a) reviewed the state of development of copepod cultures and made several proactive recommendations including a need to focus future work on automation and implementation of recirculation technology. 

Benthic copepod species can be fed a variety of inert feeds and are not dependent on a supply of fresh phytoplankton (Stpttrup, 2003 Rhodes and Boyd, 2005). Many harpacticoids and some cyclopoids have generally a high tolerance to a wide range of environmental conditions. They are generally very productive, can attain high population densities in culture, are relatively tolerant to decreased water quality and to invasive species such as ciliates, nematodes and rotifers (Uhlig, 1984 Stpttrup and Norsker, 1997 Pinto et al, 2001 Cutts 2002 Rhodes, 2003 Stpttrup, 2003). These traits. 

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