Distribution of Calanus finmarchicus in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean—Expatriation and potential colonization

The distribution of Calanus finmarchicus was studied on a transect across the central Greenland Sea, and on five transects from the Eurasian shelves across the Atlantic Inflow in the Arctic Ocean. Stage composition was used as an indicator for successful growth; gonad maturity and egg production were taken as indicators for reproductive activity. On the Arctic Ocean transects, these parameters were measured simultaneously from the sibling species Calanus glacialis. Response of egg production rate to different temperatures at optimal food conditions was very similar between both species in the laboratory. C. finmarchicus was present at all stations studied, but young developmental stages were only present close to the regions of submergence of Atlantic water under the Polar water. This together with a decreasing abundance and biomass from west to east along the Atlantic Inflow in the Arctic Ocean and reproductive failure indicates that C. finmarchicus is expatriated in the Arctic Ocean. We hypothesize that the late availability of food in the Arctic Ocean, rather than low temperature per se, limits reproductive success. Better reproductive success in the very low temperature regions of the Return Atlantic Current and the marginal ice zone in the Greenland Sea supports this hypothesis. The possibility for a replacement of C. glacialis by C. finmarchicus and consequences for the ecosystem after increasing warming of the Arctic are discussed.