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Secondary production of green mussel Perna viridis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae)in bottom culture, Venezuela

Abstract:

Secondary production of green mussel Perna viridis in bottom cultures, between June 2008 and February 2009, was evaluated.Dorsoventral axis length of the shell, body weight, and the dry mass of muscle, gonads and other tissues, were measured. Fortnightly records of different environmental factors were obtained. Perna viridis presented throughout the study a constant growth in size. However, the growth rate of the dry mass of somatic tissues (muscle and other tissues) showed variability throughout the study. A secondary production of 1,541.5 g/cm2/ year was obtained, of which 750.78 g/cm2/ month corresponded to gonads, 433.77 g/cm2/ month to muscle, and 356.95 g/cm2/month to other tissues. Gonad production presented progressive increases from November to February, with negative production due to spawning in September and November. The maximum increases in muscle production were in August-September, from December to January and from January to February, while the rest of the tissues showed a different behavior, with the highest increases between July-August, November-December and January-February. The Principal Component Analysis showed that environmental variables positively associated with the production of tissues were the chlorophyll a and the organic seston, while the temperature impacted negatively. In bottom cultures, P. viridis showed a high tissue production, with the highest production in reproductive tissues.