At night, when M. relicta is found throughout the water column they often feed heavily on zooplankton. Predation rates were similar during dark and light conditions and for different temperatures. Predators M. relicta is prey for a large number of fish predators which is the primary impetus for its introduction in freshwater lakes. Immediately following sperm release, the female extrudes her eggs into the marsupium for direct fertilization. Mating generally occurs in the late fall, although some populations have exhibited continuous reproductive behavior.
Males appear to mate once and die, while females have been shown to mate more than once.
This success became the rationale for numerous introductions throughout North America and Scandinavia. Unfortunately, a large majority of these attempts to increase the available forage base backfired. Although M. relicta introductions have ceased, there is no current method for removing this species from the many lakes in which it is now found. All rights reserved. Content and HTML by Ryan Brown using Netscape Gold document editor.