Annual Biodeposition and Gross Energy Budget of Mature Pacific Oysters, Crassostrea gigas

The mean annual volume of seawater pumped by Pacific oysters in Departure Bay, British Columbia is 1488 liters/g per year. The energy requirement for metabolism and pumping is 1.74 cal/liter, while the mean annual caloric content of the seawater is 60.4 cals/liter. Annual biodeposition is 8.9 g/g pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
Main Author: Bernard, F. R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:French
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1974
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f74-030
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f74-030
Description
Summary:The mean annual volume of seawater pumped by Pacific oysters in Departure Bay, British Columbia is 1488 liters/g per year. The energy requirement for metabolism and pumping is 1.74 cal/liter, while the mean annual caloric content of the seawater is 60.4 cals/liter. Annual biodeposition is 8.9 g/g per year; these data applied to a mean biomass of 190 g/m 2 for a mature oyster reef show that 22,052 kcal are theoretically available for ingestion, but only 11% are retained, mostly to be biodeposited. The biodeposits have a caloric value of 1545 kcal/m 2 and furnish an important nutritional substrate. Another important contribution to the food web is the annual release of gametes, equivalent to 502 kcal/m 2 reef.