Seasonal Changes in Shell Microstructure of Some Common Bivalve Molluscs in the Mid-Atlantic Region

Abstract

Bivalve molluscs record histories of individual growth as alternating periods of activity (shell deposition) and inactivity (growth cessation marks) within their multilayered shells, and in some species, as alternating sublayers with different morphology. Shell growth patterns reflect tidal, daily, and seasonal cycles of key environmental parameters, such as submergence and temperature, which influence physiology (e.g., feeding, respiration, metabolic rates, and reproductive cycles). Knowledge of the periodicity of formation of various structures within the shell enables researchers to place a calendar across the growth history of an animal knowing only the date of collection. In turn, this enables both the determination of age (essential in studies of population dynamics) and the assessment of how bivalve populations responded to known environmental events, be they anthropogenic or natural, after the event has occurred. Seasonal microstructural shell growth patterns of six common bivalve species living in fresh (Corbicula fluminea O. F. Müller, 1774), brackish (Rangia cuneata G. B. Sowerby I, 1832), lower estuarine (Geukensia demissa Dillwyn, 1817), coastal (Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758 and Mya arenaria Linnaeus, 1758), and continental shelf (Spisula solidissima Dillwyn, 1817) habitats in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States are documented using optical and scanning electron microscopy based on collections in the late 1980s. Some of the works have been published previously, but the results for each of the six species are combined and summarized in one volume as a guide to the seasonal shell microstructure for some common bivalves in New Jersey waters. The utility of shell growth pattern analysis in environmental impact assessments and population dynamics studies is evaluated within each habitat and example applications are provided. Although the results reported here were from studies conducted over 30 y ago, they represent collectively a contribution to our knowledge of molluscan shell microstructure that remain relevant today and are published as a coherent monograph before they are lost as so many other important unpublished works have been as time ran out on aging authors before they could relay the precious secrets they uncovered over the years.