BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2014, Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 391-398 |
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Distribution, size and age composition, and growth of Saxidomus purpurata (Sowerby, 1852) (Bivalvia: Veneridae) in Vostok Bay, the Sea of Japan A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690041 E-mail: The distribution, size and age composition of local populations, and growth of a large-sized bivalve, Saxidomus purpurata, which is actively fished and cultivated in a number of East Asian countries, were studied in Russian Far Eastern waters for the first time. In Vostok Bay, a second-order bay within Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan, S. purpurata forms local populations with a density of up to 7.5 ± 2.7 specimens/m2 and biomass of up to 1070.0 ± 384.0 g/m2 at a depth of 1-9 m on mixed bottom substrates of boulders, pebbles, gravel, shell debris, and sand with varying amounts of silt. The size and age structure of the bivalve populations varied depending on the local environmental conditions; the shell length of the largest specimen was 98.6 mm, the maximum age was 23 years. In Vostok Bay, this mollusk grows slower and attains the commercial size (more than 50 mm in shell length) later (at the age of 5-7 years) than at the coasts of Korea and China. The Von Bertalanffy growth equation for S. purpurata from Vostok Bay was Lt=100.1[1-e-0.1675(t-0.0604)]. It is suggested that the boundary of the species range may lie north of Peter the Great Bay. Key words: Saxidomus purpurata, Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan, distribution, size and age composition, populations, growth. |
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