SPERMATOPHORE TRANSFER IN EUCHAETA SPECIES IN A 2000-M WATER COLUMN

The numbers and placement of spermatophores transferred by males to females in the genus Euchaeta are examined in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Multiple placement of spermatophores is present in the five diel, vertically migrating species, E. acuta, E. pseudotonsa, E. gracilis, E. norvegica and E. hanseni. Direct placement covering the genital opening is usually, but not always the primary placement site. Males produce two sizes of spermatophores corresponding to the small directly placed and the large indirectly placed ones attached to the females. Females of the other species, E. barbata, E. barbata f. farrani, E. scotti, E. bisinuata, E. sarsi, E. abbreviata, E. longissima and E. bradyi, all meso- or bathypelagic non-vertically migrating species, have a single spermatophore attached to the genital opening. Spermatophore size is related to male and female prosome lengths and to the depth at which the species lives. Size variation of spermatophores within species decreases with increasing depth. Spermatophore transfer in deep-sea species, a single spermatophore directly placed, appears to be more efficient than in the epipelagic and mesopelagic vertical migrators where multiple placement involves a proportion of spermatophores with no direct connection to the genital opening.