Nota

 

Notes on the growth, survival, and reproduction of the lion's paw scallop Nodipecten subnodosus maintained in a suspended culture

 

Notas sobre el crecimiento, sobrevivencia y reproducción de la almeja mano de león Nodipecten subnodosus en cultivo en suspensión

 

Marcial Villalejo-Fuerte¹, Marcial Arellano-Martínez¹, Miguel Robles-Mungaray², and Bertha Patricia Ceballos-Vázquez¹

 

¹ Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 592, La Paz, B.C.S. 23000, México Tel. +52(612)1225344

² Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Apdo. Postal 128, La Paz, Baja California Sur, 23000, México Tel. +52(612)1253633 ext. 144; Fax +52(612)1254715 E mail: mvillale@ipn.mx

 

Recibido: 1 de agosto de 2003
Aceptado: 6 de mayo de 2004

 

Abstract

The study was conducted from March 1999 to November 2002 in a suspended culture located in Bahía Juncalito, Gulf of California, Mexico. Nodipecten subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835) is a species with fast growth (ø=3.91) and alometric, with a seasonality of 0.78 and an amplitude of 0.8. Its growth was described by the von Bertalanffy model. An average growth rate of 4 mm/month was estimated for the first 16 months of the study. Then, it decreased to 1.3 mm/month until the end of the experiment. The survival was high (≥ 89 %) and did not change substantially until November 2001 when it decrease to 40%. In Bahía Juncalito, N. subnodosus attain its first spawn at nearly 2-years old with a mean shell height of 72 mm.

Key words: Pectinidae, scallops, culture, Gulf of California.

 

Resumen

El estudio se llevó a cabo entre marzo 1999 y noviembre de 2002 en un cultivo en suspensión localizado en Bahía Juncalito, Golfo de California, México. Se encontró que Nodipecten subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835) es una especie con crecimiento rápido (ø=3.91), y alométrico, con una estacionalidad de 0.78 y una amplitud de 0.8. Su crecimiento se describe por el modelo de von Bertalanffy. Se estimó una tasa de crecimiento promedio de 4 mm/mes para los primeros 16 meses de estudio. Posteriormente disminuyó a 1.3 mm/mes hasta el final del estudio. La supervivencia fue alta (≥ 89 %) y no hubo cambio sustancial hasta noviembre de 2001 cuando disminuyó hasta 40%. En Bahía Juncalito N. subnodosus tuvo su primer desove a una edad de aproximadamente 2 años con una altura media de la concha de 72 mm.

Palabras clave: Pectinidae, pectinidos, cultivo, Golfo de California.

 

The lion's paw scallop N. subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835) is distributed from the Laguna Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico (including the Gulf of California) to Peru (Keen, 1971). It is the largest of all pectinid species, reaching a maximum length of 218 mm (Félix-Pico et al., 1999). In Mexico, the lion's paw scallop is commercially exploited because its large adductor muscle locally named "callo", is appreciated for human consumption. The "callo" production is exported chiefly to the United States of America. However, commercial exploitation takes place only at the scallop's northern range (Laguna Ojo de Liebre, in the Pacific Ocean) because its abundance is low in other areas. Since 1997 an increasing interest in this species has arisen due to its high potential for aquaculture.

Studies focused on the biology of the lion's paw scallop are scarce. Research on the seasonality of spat settlement was undertaken at the Laguna Ojo de Liebre (García-Domínguez et al., 1992). In Baja California Sur, Mexico, the growth of juveniles in a suspended culture has been evaluated at Laguna Ojo de Liebre (García-Domínguez et al., 1992), Bahía de La Paz (Barrios et al., 1997), and Bahía Magdalena (Racotta et al., 2003). Furthermore, studies on gonadic maturity, spawning, and seed production have been conducted (Morales-Hernández and Cáceres-Martínez, 1996; Villavicencio-Peralta, 1997; García-Pámanes et al., 1994), as well as research on embryonic development (Villavicencio-Peralta, 1997) and the reproductive cycle (Reinecke-Reyes, 1996). Nevertheless, no studies on the biology of the N. subnodosus population in Bahía Juncalito have been previously conducted.

The objective of the present study was evaluate the growth, survival, and reproduction of lion's paw scallop juveniles in a long-line culture system.

Lion's paw scallop juveniles (4 months old and ≈20 mm in shell height) produced with techniques previously established (Robles-Mungaray et al., 1999) at the hatchery of the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR) in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, were placed in Bahía Juncalito, Gulf of California (26°49' y 111°20') in February 1999 and maintained in 2.0 mm mesh bags within Nestier trays (50 x 50 x 10 cm). Trays were suspended 1 m above the bottom (during ebb tide) from a long polyethylene line (10 m long and 0.5 inch diameter). This system was placed 300 m offshore, suspended with floats (30 x 20 x 25 cm) and anchored at 10 m deep. One month later, juveniles were released from the bags into the Nestier trays. As scallops grew, the density was adjusted to maintain 50% of the tray bottom free.

A total of 12 samplings were conducted between March 1999 and November 2001 (Table 1). Shell height (distance between the dorsal hinge and the ventral margin), was measured to the nearest 0.01 mm in randomly selected scallops, and the number of living and dead individuals were noted. No scallop mortality occurred during transportation. Survival was 100% during the first three months (March to May 1999). In June, survival decreased to 90%. In September no survival records were available because of the loss of one module due to the environmental conditions. Survival was 89% in October and did not change substantially until November 2001 when it declined to 40%. Scallop survival during this experiment was high and comparable with reports for the same species in similar experiments (88-91%) (Carvajal-Rascón, 1987; Félix-Pico et al., 1999). Although high mortalities have been related to reproductive activity (Freites 1995), or to dinoflagellate blooms (Lodeiros et al., 1998), in our study the high mortality observed in November 2001 was a consequence of the effects of hurricane Juliette occurred in October.

Additionally, 5 scallops were sampled randomly each time to determine the weight of the soft tissue, adductor muscle, and total wet weights (to the nearest 0.01g). Gonads of these scallops were fixed in a 10% formalin solution prepared with seawater for histological analysis. The gonads were later dehydrated in a series of progressive increasing ethanol concentrations, cleared in toluene, and embedded in paraplast X-Tra tissue-embedding medium. Serial sections measuring 7 µm thick were obtained with a rotary microtome and stained with hematoxilyneosin (Humason, 1979).

The histological analyses show that gonad development started in February 2000, when mean shell height was 57 mm, at this time gonads were translucent with a pale pink color. Mature scallops were present in June-July 2000 when the scallops measured 68-72 mm in shell height. Gonads were turgid, not translucent, with an intense orange color in the female portion and a creamy color in the male portion. Spawning occurred in October 2000, when scallops were two years old, with a mean shell height of 72 mm, and gonads were flaccid and opaque. In 2001, no histological analysis was conducted but the tendency in the appearance of gonads in development, maturity and spawning was similar to those presented in 2000, and another spawning event was observed in November. Although there were not samples in all months, the tendency observed in the reproductive cycle was accord with the reproductive cycle reported for N. subnodosus in other localities of Baja California Sur (Reinecke-Reyes, 1996; Racotta et al., 2003; Arellano-Martínez et al., 2004).

In relation with the growth, in the study area the lion's paw scallops reached mean shell heights of 57 mm in 12 months and 93 mm in 32 months (Table 1). However, at the end of the 32-month growth experiment shell height ranged from 70 to 105 mm. Total weight (TW), soft tissue weight (STW), and adductor-muscle weight (AMW) were fitted to a potential model in relation to shell height (H) (n=93).

In order to determine if the growth may be considered isometric or not, a t-student test was applied with the null hypothesis ß = 3. Thus, the results indicated that the growth in TW, STW and AMW of N. subnodosus is alometric (P < 0.025). Additionally, a one-way ANOVA followed by a mean comparison post hoc Tukey test were made to assess significant differences in TW, STW and AMW among shell-height classes. In all cases, significant differences were observed at >60 mm H (P < 0.001).

To calculate the amplitude and seasonality of growth, the mean growth values (for shell-height modal classes) were obtained by the Bhattacharya modal separation method (Sparre and Venema, 1991), and plotted (Fig. 1). From the resulting graph, the amplitude and seasonality of growth were determined according to Gulland and Holt's method (Gayanilo et al., 1995). In this way, the seasonality was determined at 0.78 with an amplitude of 0.8. A clear seasonality in growth rate was observed in April and October. An average growth rate of 4 mm/month (0.13mm/day) from the start of the experiment on March 1999 until July 2000 (16 months on suspended culture and 19-month old scallops) was estimated. From this point, a decline in growth rate to 1.3 mm/month (0.04 mm/day) was observed until the end of the experiment. Racotta et al., (2003) also reported a decrease in the growth rate of N. subnodosus in the second year of culture. The decrease in the growth rate observed may be a consequence of the start of gonadal development. Gonadal growth is a factor that may negatively affect somatic growth of N. nodosus (Acosta et al., 2000) and Pinna cornea (Narváez et al., 2000).

Also, the growth index (ø) was calculated using the equation by Pauly and Munro (1984) (ø = log10K + 2log L∞), originally proposed for fishes and regarded as highly appropriate for comparing growth patterns in bivalves (Vakily, 1990; cited by Urban, 1991).The estimated growth index (ø) for juveniles of N. subnodosus maintained in a suspended culture in Bahía Juncalito, Gulf of California was 3.91. Comparing this value with that of other species regarded as fast-growing such as Aulacomya ater (ø = 3.68), Gari solida (ø = 3.71) and Semele solida (ø = 3.54) (Urban, 1991), it is evident that N. subnodosus may be considered as a fast-growing species.

The growth of N. subnodosus was described by the von Bertalanffy model. For the model, L∞ and k were obtained with the FISAT software (Gayanilo et al., 1995); t_o was calculated from the Von Bertalanffy equation. Thus, the model of growth for juveniles of N. subnodosus maintained in a suspended culture in Bahía Juncalito, Gulf of California was: H = 116(1-e^{−0.61(t − 0.22}).

The growth of N. subnodosus has been evaluated in different localities along the Baja California coast. Although direct comparisons are not always possible or appropriate due to differences in time, localities, origin of spat and broodstock, or records on the onset of growth (Racotta et al., 2003), an interesting finding is evident. The mean shell height reached after one year is similar in localities belong to the Gulf of California: Bahía Juncalito, 57 mm/year, 0.13 mm mm/day (this study) and Bahía de La Paz, 54 mm/year, 0.14 mm/day (Barrios et al., 1997). Whereas, in localities belong to the Pacific coast the values are larger: Laguna Ojo de Liebre, 76 mm/year, 0.21 mm/day (García-Domínguez et al., 1992) and Bahía Magdalena, 92 mm/year, 0.25 mm/day (Racotta et al., 2003). This suggests that the Pacific coast may be a better location for the culture of lion's paw scallops.

Temperature and food availability have been considered as the more important environmental factors that influence the bivalve growth under suspended culture conditions (Bayne and Newell, 1983; Lodeiros et al., 1998; Lodeiros and Himmelman, 1994, 2000). To this respect, the maximum temperature registered in Bahía Juncalito is 29ºC (Villalejo-Fuerte et al., 2002), whereas the maximum temperatures registered in Laguna Ojo de Liebre (25.2 ºC) (Arellano-Martínez, unpublished data) and Bahía Magdalena (26.6 ºC) (Hernández-Rivas et al., 1993) are lesser. From the above, temperature appears as a factor that no influence so much the growth of N. subnodosus, then the difference may be the food availability in each locality, but no data on the food availability are available for comparison. However, the above is supported by the results of Félix-Pico et al. (1999) who registered a growth (86.5mm/year, 0.24mm/day) in Bahía de Loreto (into the Gulf of California) similar to the observed in Pacific coast localities.

Bahía de Loreto is near Bahía Juncalito, and then it is possible that the environmental conditions been similar, but the results in growth rate in each locality are very different. Another possibility to explain these differences is that the study by Félix-Pico et al. (1999) was conducted with wild seed collected at the study site, whereas in the present study we used laboratory-produced seed, which may be of lower quality.

We are grateful to the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) for funding this work, and for the grants (EDI and COFAA) to the authors. We also wish to thank to María Elena Sanchez Salazar for her editorial help on the English manuscript.

 

Literature cited

ACOSTA, V., L. FREITES & C. LODEIROS. 2000. Densidad, crecimiento y supervivencia de juveniles de Lyropecten (Nodipecten) nodosus (Pteroida: Pectinidae) en cultivo suspendido en el Golfo de Cariaco, Venezuela. Revista de Biología Tropical 48: 799-806.         [ Links ]

ARELLANO MARTÍNEZ M., I.S. RACOTTA, B.P. CEBALLOS-VÁZQUEZ, & J.F. ELORDUY-GARAY. 2004. Energy cycle, reproductive activity, and food availability of the lion's paw scallop Nodipecten subnodosus in the Laguna Ojo de Liebre, B.C.S., Mexico. Journal of Shellfish Research 23(1): 15-23.         [ Links ]'

BARRIOS, D., J. CHÁVEZ, & C. CÁCERES. 1997. First trial of growth Lyropecten subnodosus under culture conditions in Bahía de La Paz, B.C.S., México. In: Félix-Pico, E. (Ed.) Book of Abstracts11th Internacional Pectinid Workshop, CICIMAR La Paz, México,. pp. 107-110.         [ Links ]

BAYNE, B. L. & R. C. NEWELL. 1983. Physiological energetics of marine molluscs. In: Saleuddin A. S. M. and K. M. Wilbur (Eds.), The Mollusca. 4. Academic Press, New York, pp. 407-515.         [ Links ]

CARVAJAL-RASCÓN, M. A. 1987. Cultivo larvario de la almeja "mano de león" (Nodipecten subnodosus) a partir del crecimiento y maduración gonadal de los reproductores. Tesis de Maestría ITESM, Guaymas, México. 65 p.         [ Links ]

FÉLIX-PICO, E., M. VILLALEJO-FUERTE, A. TRIPP-QUEZADA, & O. HOLGUIN-QUIÑONES. 1999. Growth and survival of Lyropecten subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835) in suspended culture at the national marine park of Bahia de Loreto, B.C.S., Mexico. In: Strand, Ø (Ed.) Book of abstractas 12th Internacional Pectinid Workshop, Bergen, Norway. pp. 39-40.         [ Links ]

FREITES, L., B. VERA, C. LODEIROS, & S. VÉLEZ. 1995. Effect of density on growth and secondary production of Euvola (Pecten) ziczac juveniles, under suspended culture conditions. Ciencias Marinas 21:361-372.         [ Links ]

GAYANILO, F. C. JR., P. SPARRE, & D. PAULY. 1995. The FAO-ICLARM Stock assessment tools (FISAT). FAO computerized information series (Fisheries). No. 8. Rome, FAO. 126p.         [ Links ]

GARCÍA-DOMÍNGUEZ, F., P. CASTRO-MOROYOQUI, & E. FÉLIX-PICO. 1992. Spat settlement and early growth of Lyropecten subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835) in Laguna Ojo de Liebre, B.C., Mexico, 1989-1990. Abstracts 1992 Triennial Meeting National Shellfisheries Association, Orlando Florida. Journal of Shellfish Research 11:195.         [ Links ]

GARCÍA-PÁMANES, L., F. GARCÍA-PÁMANES, G. CHI-BARRAGAN, G. PARES-SIERRA, J. GARCÍA-PÁMANES, O. MEDINA-HURTADO, & F. NÚÑEZ. 1994. Desarrollo de la tecnología del cultivo de la mano de león Lyropecten subnodosus. In: González-Aguilar, S. A. (Ed.) Resumenes Primer Congreso Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología del Mar. SEP/SEIT, Guaymas, Sonora, México.         [ Links ]

HERNÁNDEZ-RIVAS, M., J. GÓMEZ-GUTIÉRREZ, C. A. SÁNCHEZ-ORTÍZ, R. J. SALDIERNA-MARTÍNEZ, & G. R. VERA-ALEJANDRE. 1993. Atlas de temperatura superficial en el complejo lagunar de Bahía Magdalena-Bahía Almejas, Baja California Sur, México 1980-1989. Secretaría de Marina. Dirección General de Oceanografía Naval. Sección Fisico-químicos. Vol. II: 85p.         [ Links ]

HUMASON, G. L. 1979. Animal Tissue Techniques. W.H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco. 661 p.         [ Links ]

KEEN, A. M. 1971. Sea shells of tropical West America. Marine mollusks from Baja California to Peru. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. 1064 p.         [ Links ]

LODEIROS C. J. & J. H. HIMMELMAN. 1994. Relations among environmental conditions and growth in the tropical scallop Euvola (Pecten) ziczac (L.) in suspended culture in the Golfo de Cariaco, Venezuela. Aquaculture 119: 345-358.         [ Links ]

LODEIROS C.J. & J.H. HIMMELMAN. 2000. Identification of factors affecting growth and survival of the tropical scallop Euvola (Pecten) ziczac in the Golfo de Cariaco, Venezuela. Aquaculture 182: 91-114.         [ Links ]

LODEIROS C. J., J. J. RENGEL, L. F. FREITES, F. MORALES, & J.H. HIMMELMAN. 1998. Growth and survival of the tropical scallop Lyropecten (Nodipecten) nodosus maintained in suspended culture at three depths. Aquaculture 165: 41-50.         [ Links ]

MORALES-HERNÁNDEZ, R. & C. CÁCERES-MARTÍNEZ. 1996. Pesquería de almeja mano de león Nodipecten subnodosus. In: Casas-Valdéz, M. and G. Ponce-Díaz (Eds.) Estudio del Potencial Pesquero y Acuícola de Baja California Sur. México. pp. 87-100.         [ Links ]

NARVÁEZ, N., C. LODEIROS, L. FREITES, M. NÚÑEZ, D. PICO, & A. PRIETO. 2000. Abundancia de juveniles y crecimiento de Pinna carnea (Mytiloida: Pinnacea) en cultivo suspendido. Revista de Biología Tropical 48: 785-797.         [ Links ]

PAULY, D. & J.L. MUNRO. 1984. Once more on growth comparisons in fish and invertebrates. Fishbyte 2: 21.         [ Links ]

RACOTTA, I. S., J. L. RAMÍREZ, A. M. IBARRA, M. C. RODRÍGUEZ-JARAMILLO, D. CARREÑO, & E. PALACIOS. 2003. Growth and gametogenesis in the lion-paw scallop Nodipecten (Lyropecten) subnodosus. Aquaculture 217: 335-349.         [ Links ]

REINECKE-REYES, M. A. 1996. Madurez y desove de la almeja mano de león Lyropecten subnodosus Sowerby, 1835 (Bivalvia: Pectinidae) en la Laguna Ojo de Liebre, B.C.S., México. Boletín Pesquero CRIP-LA Paz. 3:17-20.         [ Links ]

ROBLES-MUNGARAY, M., T. REYNOSO-GRANADOS, P. MONSALVO-SPENCER, & G. VILLAVICENCIO-PERALTA. 1999. Cultivo experimental de la escalopa mano de león Lyropecten subnodosus en Baja California Sur. Memorias del VI Congreso de Ciencia y Tecnología del Mar. Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México.         [ Links ]

SPARRE, P. & S.C. VENEMA. 1991. Introduction to tropical fish stock assessment. Part 1. Manual. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 306(2): 94.         [ Links ]

URBAN, J. H. 1991. Preliminary estimates of growth parameters for three commercial bivalve species of Peru (Gari solida, Aulacomya ater and Semele solida). Fishbyte 9: 4-6.         [ Links ]

VILLALEJO-FUERTE, M., M. ARELLANO-MARTÍNEZ, B. P. CEBALLOS-VÁZQUEZ, & F. GARCÍA-DOMÍNGUEZ. 2002. Reproductive cycle of Spondylus calcifer Carpenter, 1857 (Bivalvia: Spondylidae) in the "Bahía de Loreto" National Park, Gulf of California, México. Journal of Shellfish Research 21: 103-108.         [ Links ]

VILLAVICENCIO-PERALTA, G. 1997. Acondicionamiento gonadal, desarrollo embrionario y cultivo de larvas de almeja mano de león, Lyropecten subnodosus (Sowerby, 1835), alimentadas con cuatro especies de microalgas. Tesis Profesional. ITMAR. La Paz, B. C. S., México. 89 p.         [ Links ]