Limnoperna fortunei is a freshwater bivalve that invaded South America through Rı´o de la Plata estuary in 1989 and has since become a major macrofouling pest. Along the Parana´-Paraguay waterway, which hosts intense boat traffic, L. fortunei has moved upstream at an average rate of of 250 km per year.

No abstract

Phytoplankton in water samples from the lower delta of the Parana river (Argentina) and in the gut contents of a local populaton of the Asiatic clam Corbicula fluminea was identified and counted monthly between April 1992 and March 1993 . Relative abundances of algal species were generally similar in the medium and in the stomachs of clams, suggesting the absence of feeding selectivity on the basis of taxonomic group or size-class . Diatoms made up a slightly but consistently larger (yet not significantly different) proportion of the diet of C. fluminea than of the plankton ; this pattern is attributed to enhanced preservation of algal siliceous frustules, rather than to feeding selectivity. It is suggested that non-selective feeding by the bivalve is a response to the overall scarcity of food and, probably, to food collection by a combination of deposit and filter feeding .