The Annual Macroscopic Growth Pattern of the Northern Quahog [=hard Clam, Mercenaria Mercenaria (L.)], in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

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“…future studies, even if they are conducted in geographic regions where the annual growth pattern of M. mercenaria has been previously defined, should confirm that the annual pattern has not changed over time due to local environmental fluctuations (Henry and Cerrato, 2007). their conclusion is particularly relevant to the study of zooarchaeological assemblages where baseline patterns of periodic shell growth have the potential of changing in response to local and worldwide climatic shifts such as those experienced during the holocene by native americans who populated the coastal environments of the Southeast (Fagan, 2000(Fagan, , 2005.…”

“…Henry and Cerrato (2007) found a quite different annual periodic pattern in incremental shell formation in their analysis of shell oxygen isotopes collected from narragansett Bay in 2005-2006: a translucent increment formed during the winter, an opaque in the spring, a second translucent in the summer, and a second opaque in the fall. they hypothesize that the changes in periodic shell formation resulted from an increase in water temperature in narraganset Bay (Henry and Cerrato, 2007). If they had relied on the Jones, Arthur, and Allard (1989) baseline interpretation, a count of the translucent increments would have resulted in an overestimate of the mean age of the population.…”

“…a size analysis of the age-corrected annual shell increments documented the growth of narragansett Bay specimens living between 1958 and 1983 (Jones, Arthur, and Allard, 1989). Henry and Cerrato (2007) found a quite different annual periodic pattern in incremental shell formation in their analysis of shell oxygen isotopes collected from narragansett Bay in 2005-2006: a translucent increment formed during the winter, an opaque in the spring, a second translucent in the summer, and a second opaque in the fall. they hypothesize that the changes in periodic shell formation resulted from an increase in water temperature in narraganset Bay (Henry and Cerrato, 2007).…”

“…growth rates are faster in winter and spring (white growth) and slower during the summer months (dark growth). water temperature and associated biotic shifts appear to influence growth rates (henry and Cerrato, 2007;Jones, Arthur, and Allard, 1989;Jones and Quitmyer, 1996;Quitmyer and Jones, chap. 7, this volume, Cannon, and Jones, 1985;Quitmyer, Jones, and Arnold, 1997) and this has been confirmed with stable isotopic studies (Andrus and Crowe, 2008;Quitmyer and Jones, chap.…”

“…7.4; Quitmyer,Jones,no. 97 and Arnold, 1997;Fritz, 2001;henry and cerrato, 2007) and Litchfield Beach, South Carolina (Jones,Quitmyer,and dePratter,chap. 8,this volume).…”