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- Title
Growth and survival of the freshwater clam, Galatea paradoxa ( Born 1778) cultured on different substrata at the Volta estuary, Ghana.
- Authors
Adjei-Boateng, Daniel; Essel, Michael Kojo; Agbo, Nelson Wheatson
- Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the optimum clam size and substratum type for the culture of G alatea paradoxa. The experiment was conducted over a 90-day period at the Volta Estuary, Ghana. Three size classes of G . paradoxa categorized as small (27.6 ± 0.4 mm), medium (36.8 ± 0.4 mm) and large (50.0 ± 0.6 mm), were used to ascertain the effect of a sandy and muddy substratum on growth performance and survival. Growth increased from the small-sized clams to the large-sized clams at 2.54, 3.03 and 3.43 g, respectively, over the experimental period. Growth was higher ( P < 0.05) in the muddy substratum (3.58 g) compared with sandy (2.41 g). Similarly, the specific growth rate increased from 0.99% day−1 in the small-sized clams to 1.36% day−1 in the large-sized clams. Survival rates were significantly higher (99.4%) for the large-sized clams compared with the medium (78.8%) and the small-size clams (74.1%). There was significant interaction between the size class and the substratum type with a trend towards increasing survival rate from the small to the large size clams in both substrata. The survival rate was lower in the muddy substratum (71.4%) compared with the sandy substratum (96.7%). The yield was significantly higher in the muddy (2.01 kg m−2 90 day−1) compared with sandy substratum (1.87 kg m−2 90 day−1). The results of this study indicate that the culture of small-sized clams is best practiced on sandy substratum due to their elevated survival rates, whereas the muddy substratum appears most suitable for the culture of larger clams (>40 mm) because of their relatively higher survivorship and better growth performance.
- Subjects
GHANA; FRESHWATER mussels; ESTUARINE animals; CLAM populations; RIPARIAN ecology; RIPARIAN animals
- Publication
Aquaculture Research, 2012, Vol 43, Issue 10, p1480
- ISSN
1355-557X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2109.2011.02950.x