Ingestion rate, assimilation efficiency and energy balance in Mytilus chilensis in relation to body size and different algal concentrations

Basing on a quantification of filtration, ingestion, assimilation, biodeposition, excretion and respiration rate, energy budgets were established in Mytilus chilensis Hupé in relation to body size and three different food concentrations of the unicellular green alga Dunaliella marina. The present quantifications revealed that in M. chilensis the ingestion rate only increases slightly with an increase in food concentration which, however, is counterbalanced by a significant decrease in assimilation efficiency in such a way that assimilation rate finally is nearly constant and independent of the food concentrations tested. The quantifications of these results are given by the a-values of the general allometric growth equation P=aWb relating the energy disposable for growth and reproduction (P; cal d-1 to body size (W; dry-tissue wt, g). The best energy budget was obtained at the lowest food concentration tested (0.8 mg algal dry wt l-1; at 12°C and 30‰ S) with an a-value of 58.8, while the energy budget at the highest food concentration (2.14 mg l-1) was only slightly lower with an a-value of 49.8; the b-values were 0.49 and 0.51, respectively. The net growth efficiencies (K2) decreased with increasing body size (from 20 mg to 3 000 mg drytissue wt) from 76.7 to 47.9% at the lowest food level and from 72.6 to 44.0% at the highest food level tested. These relatively high net growth efficiencies seem to reflect optimal experimental conditions. Furthermore, by a comparison of estimated growth (calculated on the basis of the best energy budget) with growth actually quantified in culture raft mussels in the south of Chile during the highest production period of the year, it is obvious that the energy budgets established really reflect the conditions experienced by the mussels in their natural environment.