Copepod egg production rate in pelagic copepods in the Mexican Central Pacific

Estimates of secondary production through indicators from pelagic copepods under laboratory conditions were carried out in Mexican waters of the eastern tropical Pacific. Copepods were  collected during April 2015, separated and in three oceanographic stations off the coast of Guerrero, Mexico. Only Labidocera acutifrons, Subeucalanus pileatus and Centropages furcatus presented reproductive activity. Secondary production indicators were the rate of egg production (TPH), the mass-length relationship and condition factor. The species with the highest TPH and the highest value of condition factor (K) was Labidocera acutifrons. In all three species allometric growth was observed. This is the first estimate of secondary production for zooplankton in the Mexican Central Pacific. Thus it should be extended to a larger number of taxa and for a wider seasonal space-time scale