Some reproductive parameters of populations of Macoma calcarea (Bivalvia, Tellinidae) in the Barents and Pechora Seas

• Published in: Vestnik MGTU
• Main Authors: Noskovich A. E., Pavlova L. V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Murmansk State Technical University 2017
• Subjects: bivalve; Macoma calcarea; embryonic shell; mature and immature individuals; oocytes; General Works; A; Arctic; Barents Sea; Murmansk; Ura; Varandey; Drozdovka; Novaya Zemlya; Pechora
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.21443/1560-9278-2017-20-2-463-471; https://doaj.org/article/9f16b1b03da54fa1928fd07e5841721b

Macoma calcarea is a boreal-arctic species widespread in all the northern seas of Russia. Like all bivalve molluscs M. calcarea plays an important role in marine ecosystems. Despite the widespread use many aspects of the biology of this species have not been adequately studied. The aim of the work is to establish a number of reproductive parameters (the sexual composition, the size of sexual maturity, breeding time, the size of the embryonic shell, the size of oocytes and spermatozoa) in the Barents Sea bivalve Macoma calcarea in areas with different hydrological regimes. Molluscs of the populations localized in the area of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, in the Varandey, Ivanovskaya, Drozdovka and Ura Bays have been investigated. The material for the study has been samples of molluscs harvested in the mouths of the Barents and Pechora Seas in the period from 2006 to 2011 by the researchers of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute. 680 samples have been studied all in all. As a result it has been found that makoms from the Novaya Zemlya population significantly differ from molluscs of other populations in the size structure, the ratio of mature and immature individuals. Also, apparently, spawning takes place in other periods than in the southern part of the Barents Sea. The abundance of young molluscs in the Ivanovskaya, Drozdovka, Ura and Varandey Bays indicates the more successful breeding in these areas, however there is also an increased elimination of large individuals. In all areas of the study among the sexually mature molluscs the dominance of males is widespread.