Oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion in the mysid shrimp Neomysis integer and early developmental stages of the smelt Osmerus eperlanus from the Vistula Lagoon
Bulletin of the Sea Fisheries Institute 3 (163) 2004, pp. 31-38

Krystyna Maciejewska1, Krzysztof W. Opaliński2, Leonard Wawrzyniak1
1Sea Fisheries Institute, Kołłątaja 1, 81-332 Gdynia, Poland
2Center for Ecological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Dziekanów, 05-092 Łomianki, Poland

Key words: Neomysis integer, Osmerus eperlanus, oxygen consumption, nitrogen excretion, O:N ratio, Vistula Lagoon, food competition.

Abstract.
Oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion, and the O:N ratio was measured in two animal species living in the Vistula Lagoon pelagic community early developmental stages of the smelt O. eperlanus and the mysid shrimp N. integer. The O:N ratios and literature data on the daily food ration in both species indicate that O. eperlanus catches more food that is richer in protein in comparison with the shrimp. This indicates that the smelt probably beats N. integer in food competition.