Crecimiento y producción de Donax striatus (Bivalvia: Donacidae) en playa Las Balsas, Gibara, Cuba

Abstract

Clams of the genus Donax are worldwide the dominating group of the invertebrate community on sandy beaches. They are primary consumers that provide a significant abundance and biomass to the ecosystem. In the Caribbean, Donax striatus has an important role for nature and human, nonetheless studies on the population dynamics of this beach clam are scarce and no information exists on secondary production of this species. Growth parameters and secondary production of D. striatus were estimated from February 2008 to November 2009 at Las Balsas beach, Northeastern Cuba, in order to provide basic information for management purposes. In each month 45 samples were taken by means of a PVC corer of 0.025 m 2 area and sieved with a 1 mm mesh. Animals were measured and weighted with and without shell. A total of 5 471 specimens were collected during the sampling period. Shell length ranged from 2.7-33.3 mm. Growth parameters estimated from length frequency data were L ∞ = 36.1 mm, K= 0.8/yr and t 0 = 0.2/yr. The growth performance resulted in values of Φ´= 3.02. Life span was 2.4 yrs and mortality rate was 3.07 /yr. In 2008, mean abundance of D. striatus ranged between 17.1-770.7 ind./m 2 . In 2009 the lowest mean abundance was 34.4 and the highest was 892.5 ind./m 2 . During 2009 biomass and production was more than twice higher in comparison with 2008. Individual production showed highest values in the 24 mm shell size (3.74 g/m 2 .yr) and 25 mm (0.71 g/m 2 .yr), considering mass with shell and without shell, respectively. During 2009 abundance of individuals with 15 mm shell length or more increased resulting in higher biomass and production, compared to 2008. Using the conversion factor of wet mass to ash free dry mass (AFDM), annual production ranged between 2.87-6.11 g AFDM/m 2 .yr, resulting in a turnover rate (P/B) between 5.11 and 3.47 in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The rapid growth and high turnover rate of D. striatus suggest a rapid recovery of the population. These results support the idea that this beach clam is an important resource at Las Balsas beach. Thus its exploitation must continue with caution, and only at the level of a recreational fishery. Rev. Biol. Trop. 63 (3): 639-646. Epub 2015 September 01.Key words: Donax striatus, growth, mortality, secondary production, biomass, sandy beaches.Clams of the genus Donax are worldwide the dominating group of the invertebrate community on sandy beaches; of the 64 species that have been described until now, about 75 % are to be found in tropical waters, around 22 % lives in temperate areas and a very small amount inhabits coastal upwelling regions (McLachlan & Brown, 2006). As primary consumers, donacids provide a significant abundance and biomass to the ecosystem, being also important for recreational and/or commercial fisheries in many countries (McLachlan et al., 1996). Donax striatus Linnaeus, 1767, lives in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches of the Caribbean and the South-eastern Atlantic Ocean from Gibara Bay in Cuba to North-eastern Brazil (...

Abundancia y crecimiento relativo de <i>Donax denticulatus</i> (Bivalvia: Donacidae) en playa Levisa, costa sur oriental de Cuba

“…Contrary to reports for other Donax populations in the Caribbean (Sastre, 1984;McLachlan et al 1996;Ocaña et al 2010) showing temporal differences in abundance, D. denticulatus at Levisa Beach had no significant changes in abundance throughout the study period. The same pattern was observed by Ocaña et al (2013) with this species at Carenero Beach.…”

“…One of the accepted explanations is that zonation by size represents a mechanism to avoid intraspecific competition (McLachlan et al 1996). It is suggested that the middle intertidal zone is a more favorable habitat for intertidal species because individuals are not constantly exposed to the continuous wave action, the zone is always saturated and the sediment is medium sized compared to the lower and upper zones; consequently, organisms do not have to divert a lot of energy to maintain their position and to avoid being washed by waves (Ocaña et al 2010).…”

Population dynamics of blood clams Tegillarca granosa in Kendari Bay, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…Samples with larger lengths are slower in reaching their maximum length compared to others with smaller lengths (Sparre and Venema 1999). However, the clams in Kendari Bay had relatively faster growth than others, including Donax striatus (Ocaña 2015), Lithophaga patagonica (Bagur et al 2013), Dosinia ponderosa, Megapitaria aurantiaca, and Megapitaria squalida (Lopez- Rocha et al 2018). They also had similar rates to Geloina expansa (Yahya et al 2018), Darina solenoides (Lizarralde et al 2018) as well as slower rates to Eumarcia paupercula (Mugabe et al 2019), Crassostrea lass (Yapia et al 2017, and Anomalocardia brasiliana (Mattos and Cardoso 2012).…”

Production and Biomass of Pokea Clam (Batissa violacea var. celebensis von Martens, 1897) in the Langkumbe River Waters North Buton Southeast Sulawesi

“…a dan b = konstanta L = lebar cangkang (mm) MKBA = massa kering bebas cangkang (gram) Kepadatan kerang pokea (B. violacea) setiap bulan dianalis dengan persamaan (Ocaña et al, 2015): = / ……….…………………………………………………………………………………………………(2) Keterangan: K = kepadatan (ind./m 2 ), Ni = jumlah individu (ind.) A = luas area (m 2 ) Total produksi tahunan (annual production) (P (gMKBC/m 2 .yr)), diduga dengan nilai MKBC dari semua sampel menggunakan metode laju pertumbuhan massa spesifik (masss pecific growth rate method) (Crisp, 1984) dari data kepadatan, frekuensi kelas-ukuran, parameter pertumbuhan vBGF dan hubungan panjang-bobot, sebagai berikut (Laudien et al, 2003):…”