Growth and longevity of Mytilus edulis (L.) from northeast Europe

Abstract

The growth of mussels, Mytilus edulis (L.), was studied in most of the northeastern part of their distribution. The growth, longevity and maximal size of molluscs from 24 wild populations and one cultured population located in the White Sea and the southeast part of the Barents Sea were compared. The 25 studied populations were combined in six clusters. The maximal longevity and the size of the mussels varied between 7 and 18 years and 25.5 and 77.7 mm, respectively. The geographical location of the population within the studied region did not affect either maximal longevity or maximal size, or the growth rate of mussels. However, these parameters were influenced by local habitat conditions, primarily connected with the position within intertidal and subtidal zones. Animals inhabiting the intertidal zone were characterized by relatively low growth performance, a short life span and a small size. The longest life span was typical for deep subtidal mussels, whereas the highest growth rate was recorded in the cultured population and in the upper subtidal habitats. Growth patterns of Mytilus edulis in the subarctic White and the Arctic southeast Barents seas are similar to those reported from other parts of the area of distribution. Therefore, growth was mostly determined by local environmental factors, including those related to vertical zonation, rather than by latitude/longitude and related temperature effects.

Keywords:

• Barents Sea
• effect of habitat
• growth
• interpopulational and intrapopulational variation
• longevity
• maximal size
• Mytilus edulis
• White Sea

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the framework of INTAS project no. 94-391 (co-ordinator H.H.). At the data processing stage, the work was partly supported by RFBR grant 04-04-57808 to P.P.S. The authors wish to thank the crew of R/V Professor Vladimir Kuznetsov (the Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg) on board of which the expeditions were carried out and all participants of the three INTAS expeditions who helped in sample collection. We are grateful to Mrs T. Ivanova, who developed and put at our disposal an original computer program for the comparison and cluster analysis of growth curves. Our thanks also to Dr I. Sokolova for helpful comments and linguistic corrections.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark