Dispersion of freshwater mussel larvae in a lowland river

Abstract

We examined the dispersal of larvae (glochidia) of a common unionid mussel species, Actinonaias ligamentina, which need to attach to a host fish in order to develop into juveniles, in a lowland river (Sydenham River, Ontario, Canada). Generally, the decline in the number of glochidia captured with distance from release was best described by an inverse power function. The highest proportion was found in the first net 4 m downstream (range 0.1-3.6%), but a small proportion of glochidia was captured 96 m downstream (0-0.03%). This indicates that infestation of host fish may occur several tens to hundreds of meters downstream of the adults' location, even at relatively low flow conditions (mean velocity, 15 cm s 21 ). Dispersal distances increased with velocity, but the number of glochidia sampled at a given location can vary considerably due to stochastic effects of turbulence, especially at shorter distances. Individual trials could, therefore, deviate considerably from the predictions of an existing turbulent transport model (local exchange model), but overall there was a good correlation between measured data and model prediction. However, model predictions were quantitatively much higher than measured values (i.e., . 50 fold in some cases), which could be in part due to several simplifying assumptions of the model.

A study on fish eggs and larvae drifting in the Jirau reservoir, Brazilian Amazon

“…Hence, the studies that investigate fish migration patterns, spawning, and drift of eggs and larvae are important. The drift and dispersal are crucial events of young fish (e.g., eggs and larvae) species diversity in aquatic systems [19,37,50,66,69,75]. For instance, the dispersal can be active or passive between two sites and includes distinct phases [44].…”

“…A similar methodology was used in other studies to simulate the larvae transport under different conditions, see, for instance, [30,31,48,64]. Despite many studies report the use of particles tracing approaches method for understanding the drift of the fish eggs and larvae, the application of this method in world's large rivers is scarce [45,65].…”

Limited movement of freshwater mussel fish hosts in a southern US river

“…Bishop & Hynes, 1969;Elliott, 1971;Bird & Hynes, 1981;Williams & Moore, 1982;in Wilzbach & Cummins, 1989), but has not been experimentally examined in mussels. Based on previous studies investigating the sinking and drift rates of juvenile mussels (Schwalb et al, 2010;Irmscher, 2014), we estimated that juveniles drift approximately 50-250 cm during summer low flow conditions in the Little River, which is within the same range of upstream movement of host fish that we measured. Studies of mussel-host relationships have frequently investigated luring strategies and other aspects of glochidia-host interactions that enhance recruitment (e.g., Sietman et al, 2012); however, upstream dispersal is an additional advantage that mussels gain from the relationship with their host (Mansur & da Silva, 1999;Barnhart et al, 2008;Horký et al, 2014).…”

“…Mussels that have been dislodged after substrate scouring during floods can be washed downstream, potentially into less suitable habitat (Strayer, 1999). Juvenile mussels are also subject to drift displacement (Schwalb et al, 2010;Irmscher, 2014). Since mussels have limited movement, repeated dislodgement and cumulative displacement should result in mussel beds being moved downstream over extended time periods (Layzer & Madison, 1995).…”

New cockles (Bivalvia: Cardiidae: Lymnocardiinae) from Late Pleistocene Lake Karapınar (Turkey): Discovery of a Pontocaspian refuge?

“…Active (upstream) dispersal of bivalves is extremely slow (Kappes and Haase, 2012) and in the case of the Konya/Karapinar Basin no Late Pleistocene drainage existed towards the Black Sea Basin. Furthermore most active dispersion of bivalves concerns glochidia of pearly fresh water mussels that become attached to gills of fish and whose dispersion rates are general low (Schwalb et al, 2010). To date no observations are known of cardiid bivalve larvae being capable of migrating attached to fish.…”