M 23
ZHANG,F.
Mussel culture in China.
1984 10 pp
Aquaculture, 39, 1–10
The southernmost limit of the distribution of the common mussel, Mytilus edulis L., along the mainland coast of Asia is in the northern part of the southern Yellow Sea, including Jiaozhou Bay where they occur rarely. There are two breeding seasons a year, spring and autumn. The development of their population may be limited primarily by benthic predators and the high summer temperatures in the intertidal zone. The use of rafts in culture can overcome these problems. In China, commercial mytiliculture was initiated in the early 1970s. In order to solve the problem of seed mussel shortage, research was carried out on the collection of natural seed with the aim of increasing their production and on hatchery techniques aimed at attaining large-scale rearing. The two primary factors that contributed to the successful establishment of seed grounds along the Shangdong Peninsula (e.g., Jiaozhou Bay) were leaving the kelp longline rafts in the water after their harvest to serve as attaching substrata for collecting spat and maintaining sufficient adult mussels for larvae production. Over the past few years, several reports on the artificial rearing of spat have been published in China. Recent research has resulted in the improvement of collectors used in the rearing tank, amelioration of larval food supply, inhibition of bacterial growth in the rearing water with the use of cheaper drugs, etc. As a result, over 10 million spat averaging 350–400 micra in length can be steadily produced per cubic meter of tank water by the method devised. Floating raft culture is now the most popular method employed. Each raft is 50 or 60 m long, mostly with glass floats. Mussels are cultured for a period of about 6 months or 1 year and are harvested in March and April or in September and October. Each raft can produce 750–2500 kg of fresh mussels; rafts in Jiaozhou Bay generally produce 1500 kg.
M 24
VIRABHADRA RAO, K., KUMARI, L.K. and S.N. DWIVEDI
Biology of the green mussel, Mytilus viridis.
1975 8 pp
Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, vol. 4, 189–197
Growth rate, breeding periodicities and larval abundance in M. viridis in the environmental waters have been studied from Panaji and Vengurla along the Central West Coast of India during 1972–75. The data show that the modal sizes attained by the mussels at the end of 1st, 2nd and 3rd yr of their lives are respectively 96, 132 and 156 mm. Growth rate has been observed to be very fast on floating buoys. A fair number of individuals attains a marketable size of about 60 mm in length in 6 months after initial setting. Influence of the environmental parameters on seed setting and growth rate of the spat has been studied. Length-weight relationship has been expressed as W = 0.00066 × L12.42. Breeding takes place in the species throughout the year as revealed by histological study of the gonads at periodical intervals round the year. Larval frequencies in the environment show maximum abundance in October-November, followed by a minor peak about March. Spat setting takes place very intensively during October-November corresponding with the period of major peak occurrence of the larvae in the waters. The scope for undertaking mussel culture operations in the waters around Goa has been indicated.
