A note on the growth of Arctica islandica

Abstract

In conjunction with a tagging experiment on Callista chione (L.) in 1976, a small number of the large bivalve Arctica islandica (L.) (Family Arcticidae) were also tagged in a similar manner with plastic discs cemented on to the shell with fast-setting cyanoacrylate adhesive. Arctica is less common in Whitsand Bay than Callista but extends into deeper water, 50–60m. Holme (1953) suggested that the species is long-lived and produced spat infrequently. A few young Arctica have been taken in Whitsand Bay (length 29–37 mm) and also, more commonly, specimens of 80–100 mm. In 1976 five Arctica were tagged and relaid, three of these were recovered in 1977 and one in 1978. Three more were tagged in 1978 and searched for without success in 1979. The recovered specimens did not appear to have moved at all. The results of shell length measurements, though meagre, indicated that growth was very slow. For a shell of 82 mm length the increase was 1–5 mm in a year. For a shell of 101 mm there was no increment after two years. For a shell of 102 mm the annual increment was probably 0-1 mm. In this instance it seems likely that the original length should have been 102–3 mm instead of 103–2 which was recorded. For a shell of 108 mm an increment of 0–3 mm was found after 12 months. From these results the average increment of shells over 100 mm length is likely to be of the order of 0-1 mm per year.