Egg production data for the Arctic copepods Calanus glacialis/marshallae, C. hyperboreus and Metridia longa, CASES 2003-04

The time series was conducted from 20 October 2003 to early August 2004. Live samples for egg production experiments were collected in autumn and summer at different stations making the CASES sampling grid, and at one permanent station once the Amundsen settled in the landfast ice of Franklin Bay for the overwintering period. Females of all three species were present year round and reproduced successfully in the study region. Thirty randomly selected females of each species were placed individually in 45-ml petri dishes filled with filtered sea water and incubated at in situ temperature for 24 h in the dark. At the end of the experiment, eggs produced were counted. Gonad maturation was assessed on the females that did not spawn. The data set provides a time series of egg production rates (EPR), clutch size and gonad maturation index for the three dominant Arctic copepods.