Abstract
AEI Aquaculture Environment Interactions Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AEI 9:239-256 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00230 Differential effects of adult mussels on the retention and fine-scale distribution of juvenile seed mussels and biofouling organisms in long-line aquaculture Paul M. South1,2,*, Oliver Floerl1, Andrew G. Jeffs2 1Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand 2Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Private bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand *Corresponding author: paul.south@cawthron.org.nz ABSTRACT: The majority of juvenile seed mussels are lost in aquaculture production. Understanding the causes of the losses of seed mussels is critical to reducing uncertainties in mussel aquaculture production. One major cause of loss appears to be the secondary settlement behaviour of mussels, which is thought to be a behavioural process by which larger juveniles can safely recruit among adults. This implies that once a juvenile mussel has settled among adults, there is either some impetus to remain or other positive interactions that promote increased survival. In this study, 2 densities (5 and 20 per 45 cm experimental rope) of adult green-lipped mussels Perna canaliculus were deployed alongside juvenile seed mussels to test whether this enhanced the retention of the juveniles in a typical suspended culture. Adult shells were also deployed to ascertain whether any effects were due to the physical presence of the mussels or the influence of their biological functioning. The presence of adult mussels or shells did not increase the retention of juvenile P. canaliculus, but small-scale movements of juveniles were increased by the addition of 20 live adult mussels per experimental rope. However, the presence of adult mussels and mussel shells on experimental ropes greatly increased the abundance of biofouling organisms. While the addition of live adult mussels or shells failed to provide a simple tool for increasing retention of seed mussels on aquaculture lines, they offer new insights into the identity and ecology of key biofouling organisms that can be problematic in mussel aquaculture production. KEY WORDS: Mussel retention · Secondary settlement · Green-lipped mussel · Perna canaliculus · Mytilus galloprovincialis · Recruitment Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: South PM, Floerl O, Jeffs AG (2017) Differential effects of adult mussels on the retention and fine-scale distribution of juvenile seed mussels and biofouling organisms in long-line aquaculture. Aquacult Environ Interact 9:239-256. https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00230 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AEI Vol. 9. Online publication date: July 26, 2017 Print ISSN: 1869-215X; Online ISSN: 1869-7534 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.
Highlights
Increases in the global human population and its pressure on wild stocks of fish and shellfish have resulted in the rapid emergence of aquaculture to meet our growing demand for seafood (Naylor et al 2000, Pauly et al 2002)
At the beginning of the experiment, 787.5 ± 20.4 juvenile Perna canaliculus were attached to the experimental ropes
It was not possible to separate the different substrata from the experimental ropes after 5 mo in any of the treatments because the remaining coir and sock were tightly bound to the polypropylene rope with byssus from the juveniles and fouling by blue mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis
Summary
Increases in the global human population and its pressure on wild stocks of fish and shellfish have resulted in the rapid emergence of aquaculture to meet our growing demand for seafood (Naylor et al 2000, Pauly et al 2002). The majority of mussel aquaculture relies on wild sources of larval and juvenile mussels to seed aquaculture substrata Increasing the retention of juvenile seed mussels in the early production cycle would greatly increase the overall efficiency of the mussel aquaculture industry and lessen its susceptibility to natural variations in larval supply and settlement. The issue of retention has received particular attention in New Zealand, where the mussel aquaculture industry is almost entirely reliant on 1 ephemeral wild source of seed mussels (Alfaro & Jeffs 2003, Alfaro et al 2010). The retention of juvenile P. canaliculus on aquaculture growing substrata, such as fibrous nursery ropes, can be very poor, with losses that range from 50 to 100% (Jeffs et al 1999, Webb & Heasman 2006, Hayden & Woods 2011). The issue of retention is complex and far from understood, largely due to the small number of studies that have addressed this problem
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