Sugar Flotation Method for Sorting the Resting Eggs of Marine Cladocerans and Copepods from Sea-Bottom Sediment

Abstract

A sugar flotation method usually adopted for extracting the meiobenthos from mud samples was applied to resting eggs. The experiment showed that almost all the eggs of crustacean zooplankton could be extracted after only 2 centrifugations. Generally, more than 90% of the eggs were obtained by the first treatment for all species. Diatom frustules did not come up to the surface or become suspended in the supernatant by centrifugation, but all precipitated to the bottom to be separated completely from the eggs. The high concentration of saccharose used did not appear to affect the viability of the eggs.