Captive rearing reduces the sensitivity of Acartia tonsa copepods to predator cues

Captive populations are often subject to different selective pressures than their wild counterparts, which could result in trait differences between these populations. This study investigates the effect of captive rearing on the swimming behavior and escape responses of Acartia tonsa, a species of marine copepod zooplankton that use hydromechanical signal detection to aid in finding food, locating mates, and avoiding predation. As captive populations of A. tonsa experience reduced interspecific predation and higher population densities compared to wild populations, it was hypothesized that these differences may drive adaptive evolution of swimming behavior in this species. Several components of routine swimming were compared (swimming speed, number of hops, distance of hops, frequency of hops) for groups of captive-reared and wild-caught A. tonsa, revealing that wild-caught copepods swim faster and hop more frequently than captive-reared copepods. However, when the escape responses of t..., Wild A. tonsa were collected from Ballast Point Park, Tampa Bay using a 30 cm diameter, 150 µm mesh zooplankton net. Captive copepods were obtained from Aquaculture Nursery Farms, based in Charlotte County, Florida. 
Copepod swimming behavior was recorded using an Edgertronic high speed imaging camera with a Nikon AF micro NIKKOR 105 mm lens. Each water sample contained approximately 100 copepods. Videos of the copepods swimming were recorded for 9 seconds at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels, with 6400 ISO sensitivity, 1/10000 shutter speed, and 60 frames per second. 14 videos were recorded for the captive populations and 30 videos were recorded for the wild populations.
To collect the escape response data, an artificial predator mimic was generated using a piezoelectric actuator. This was generated using a BK Precision 4030 10MHz pulse generator. The piezoelectric actuator was used to rapidly move a narrow aluminum rod in a vertical orientation to create a strong, radiating hydr..., , # Captive rearing reduces the sensitivity of Acartia tonsa copepods to predator cues

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.280gb5mzs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.280gb5mzs)

## Description of the data and file structure

This is a study on copepod swimming behavior by Muir et al. (2025). The research compares swimming behavior and escape responses between wild-caught and captive-reared Acartia tonsa copepods. The data include measurements of swimming speed, hop frequency, hop distance, and escape responses when exposed to an artificial predator mimic. The data for the wild copepods are from a copepod population collected from Tampa Bay, Florida, while data for the captive-reared copepods are obtained from a copepod population raised in aquaculture.

### Files and variables

#### File: Muir\_Acartia\_tonsa\_manuscript\_jumpanalysis\_escape.csv

**Description:** Escape response data for both wild-caught and captive-reared copepods

##### Variables

* ID: Unique identifier for each copepod ind...