Egg production rate of the copepod Acrocalanus inermis was measured at 3 stations in south Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii in August 1977 and July-October 1979. The egg production rates were significantly variable spatially, but temporal variability over a time scale of weeks was larger than spatial variability. In three experiments, egg production rates were correlated with ambient concentrations of particulate matter, a crude estimate of food concentration. Most values for egg production rates ranged between 5 and 16.9 eggs female -1 d -1. may change their egg production rate; thus duration of incubation may be critical. The second is the possibility that cannibalism by the animals on their own eggs might alter the apparent production rate. Finally, egg production may be density-dependent either through crowding or through an "Allee" effect.
I measured egg production rates ofAcrocalanus inermis on 6 dates to test the hypothesis that these rates are spatially variable. An additional experiment determined the effect of crowding in experimental containers on egg production rate, and incidentally on feeding and mortality rates.