Filtration Behaviour of Ostrea edulis: Diurnal Rhythmicity Influenced by Light Cycles, Body Size and Water Temperature

Abstract

Despite the existing studies on oyster physiology, it is a concern that, by ignoring the diurnal rhythmicity of feeding activities, the current knowledge on oyster filtration might be unrepresentative of their real filtration capacity. In the present study, the diurnal and nocturnal fluctuations of Ostrea edulis clearance rate were investigated for the first time under laboratory conditions, also considering the combined effects of water temperature and oyster size. A positive correlation was found between the mean clearance rate (CRm) and body size for both length and wet weight, with an average of 0.5 L h−1 and 0.1 L h−1 of water filtered by large and small adult oysters respectively during the 24-h experiment. A positive significant correlation between mean clearance rate and water temperature was found only for large oysters, suggesting further studies utilising temperature ranges closer to O. edulis thermal optimum are required to clarify the influence of temperature on oyster filtration activities across different size classes. The results of this study also showed a discontinuous ingestion of food by O. edulis throughout 24-h intervals, with higher values of clearance rate observed during hours of darkness at most temperatures for both size classes. This suggests photoperiod may have a potential influence on O. edulis filtration. Providing a better understanding of O. edulis filtration behaviour, these findings have implications for ecological restoration, aquaculture, and comparative studies on oyster bioenergetics and physiology, with direct applications to the development of predictive models and the assessment of ecosystem services provided by O. edulis habitat.