Mass mortality of the Japanese pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii in relation to water temperature, chlorophyll a and phytoplankton composition

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

Zen¹ichiro Kawabata¹  Yuji Tomaru¹  Shin-ichi Nakano¹ 

关键词: Pearl oyster;    Mortality;    Water temperature;    Phytoplankton;   

DOI  :  10.3354/dao044061

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Mass mortalities of the Japanese pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii have widely occurred in western Japan since 1994. The causes of these mass mortalities are at present not thoroughly understood. In this study, we investigated oystersurvival in relation to some environmental factors such as water temperature, concentration of chlorophyll a and density or composition of phytoplankton. The examined mass mortality occurred from September to December 1998, and the color on theadductor muscle of the oysters was red-brown, suggesting an infectious disease. Oysters that became moribund during the experiment lost weight, while the weight of unaffected oysters increased. The cell density of Nitzschia spp., an inedible algaefor the oyster, in Uchiumi Bay increased before and during the mass mortality event. From the results of our study, we hypothesize that P. fucata martensii was weakened by starvation because of the dominance of inedible food and then contracted aninfectious disease that resulted in mortality.

【 授权许可】

Unknown