No abstract

Culture of clams is clearly limited by the availability of natural seed (Ojea et al., 2008; Da Costa et al., 2020). Therefore, bivalve spat from hatchery is currently the only sustainable alternative for the support of aquaculture activities )Ojea et al., 2008 ; da Costa et al., 2012). Hatcheries are important to reinforce natural recruitment to restock natural beds which are threatened by over-fishing.To improve the methods of cultivating this clam, detailed knowledge of the gonadal development and spawning periods is fundamental. Knowledge of gametogenesis would help hatchery managers to determine the best strategy to produce larvae with high quality and quantity. Thus, this information may help to regulate the collecting time, management and protection of natural clam stocks (Serdar et al., 2010) Sexual maturity of clams depends on size rather than age or geographic distribution (Ojea et al., 2004). The sexes are generally separate, and sexual maturity is generally until fully matured, but this development has been divided into several maturity stages, e.g. resting, developing, mature, partially spawned and spawned (Delgado & Pérez-ARTICLE INFO