1. Growth rate and longevity were determined for a population of M. balthica at Rand Harbor, Falmouth, Mass., using a modification of the mark and recapture technique that allowed all marked individuals to be followed throughout a year. Dry weight biomass, dry shell weight and caloric content were also determined.2. Caloric content is 4.049 kcal/ash-free g. Dry weight biomass and dry shell weight were found to have a similar allometric growth with a constant of allometry of approximately 3 when measured against shell length.3. The bivalves were discovered to grow year round with the peak period of growth occurring from May to August. A negatively linear relationship between initial length (X) and total annual increment (Y) was found (Y= -0.59 X + 12.85).4. The growth curve for the Rand Harbor population revealed that within the first two years of life, M. balthica attains most of its total length. Growth ceases once a maximum size of 22-25 mm is reached and total longevity is estimated to be 6-10 years.5....
[1]
A. McErlean.
Characteristics of Macoma balthica Populations in the Middle Patuxent Estuary
,
1964
.
[2]
G. Spooner,et al.
The ecology of the Tamar Estuary VI. An account of the macrofauna of the intertidal muds
,
1940,
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.
[3]
E. Segal.
ACCLIMATION IN MOLLUSCS
,
1961
.
[4]
E. Segal.
MICROGEOGRAPHIC VARIATION AS THERMAL ACCLIMATION IN AN INTERTIDAL MOLLUSC
,
1956
.
[5]
L. Slobodkin.
Energy in Animal Ecology
,
1962
.
[6]
J. Phillipson.
A miniature bomb calori-meter for small biological samples.
,
1964
.
[7]
R. Hughes.
An Energy Budget for a Tidal-Flat Population of the Bivalve Scrobicularia plana (Da Costa)
,
1970
.
[8]
A. C. Stephen.
Notes on the Biology of Certain Lamellibranchs on the Scottish Coast
,
1931,
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.