© 2014 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2014 REABIC Open Access

The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, was introduced into the Netherlands in 1964 for aquaculture purposes and has since spread extensively in Northern European waters. Eight locations in the western part of the Limfjord, Denmark, first sampled in 2006 were revisited in 2011, to determine how the p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tilde Groslier, Helle Toft Christensen, Jens Davids, Per Dolmer, Ingrid Elmedal, Mark Wejlemann Holm, Benni W. Hansen
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Key words
invasive bivalve
winter mortality
abundance
population development
distribution
Pacific
Crassostrea gigas
Pacific oyster
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.659.273
http://aquaticinvasions.net/2014/AI_2014_Groslier_etal.pdf
Description
Summary:The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, was introduced into the Netherlands in 1964 for aquaculture purposes and has since spread extensively in Northern European waters. Eight locations in the western part of the Limfjord, Denmark, first sampled in 2006 were revisited in 2011, to determine how the population of C. gigas has changed. Densities were lower at all but two locations. No differences in average shell lengths or condition indices were detected. No changes in the number or distribution of shell size classes were observed. These similarities suggest there is a single population that has not expanded in terms of geographic distribution. While reproduction does occur, conditions for population growth appear to be suboptimal. The species has become established in western Limfjord but abundance is low and densities are much lower than those considered harmful to the ecosystem. At present, the C. gigas population is not a cause for concern in the Limfjord ecosystem.

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