Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam
Species profiles are literature summaries of the taxonomy, morphology, range, life history and environmental requirements of coastal species. They are designed to assist in environmental impact assessment. The hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, supports an important commercial fishery in the South At...
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ftdtic:ADA189696 2023-05-15T18:21:18+02:00 Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam Eversole, Arnold G CLEMSON UNIV SC 1987-08 text/html http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA189696 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA189696 en eng http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA189696 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE DTIC AND NTIS Biological Oceanography *CLAMS ADULTS BEHAVIOR COASTAL REGIONS COMMERCIAL FISHING CRABS CURRENTS DISTRIBUTION EGGS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ENVIRONMENTS ESTUARIES FEEDING FISHERIES FISHES HABITATS HABITS HIGH DENSITY HISTORY INVERTEBRATES LARVAE LIFE CYCLES LIFE(BIOLOGY) MUD OXYGEN PARASITES PARTICULATES PROFILES SALINITY SAND SEDIMENTS SHELLFISH SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN SUBSTRATES SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS TAXONOMY WATER WATER FLOW WATER QUALITY Predators *Hard clams *Mercenaria mercenaria Filter feeding Text 1987 ftdtic 2016-02-19T10:48:40Z Species profiles are literature summaries of the taxonomy, morphology, range, life history and environmental requirements of coastal species. They are designed to assist in environmental impact assessment. The hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, supports an important commercial fishery in the South Atlantic, averaging about 1 million kg of meats annually from 1979 to 1983. It also is an important constituent of estuarine systems throughout the region. Spawning occurs in the spring and the fall at 16 to 30 C. Plank tonic eggs and larvae are carried by water currents, and larvae set sometime after 6 days of age. Mortality is highest in egg and larval stages, the most sensitive part of the life cycle. Spat display gregarious setting behavior and appear to select sand over finer substrates. Highest densities of clams occur in sandy bottoms with shell. Crab predation is an important factor influencing the density and distribution of clams. Blue crabs and mud crabs appear to be the most important predators. Hard clams are infested by few parasites. Adult clams feed by filtering suspended particulates matter from the water. Growth of clams decreases with size and age. Growth occurs year-round with peaks in spring and fall. Growth of adult hard clams occurs at 9-31 C and at 4-35 ppt (optima near 20 C and 24-28 ppt). Hard clams mature in 2 years and reach commercial size in 3 years in the South Atlantic. Tight-fitting shells permit hard clams to survive poor water quality for short periods. Keywords: Shellfish, Growth(Physiology), Salinity, Temperature, Fisheries, Suspended sediments, Sediments, Feeding habits, Life cycles, Oxygen, Contaminants, Habitat, Hard calm. Text South Atlantic Ocean Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
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Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
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English |
topic |
Biological Oceanography *CLAMS ADULTS BEHAVIOR COASTAL REGIONS COMMERCIAL FISHING CRABS CURRENTS DISTRIBUTION EGGS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ENVIRONMENTS ESTUARIES FEEDING FISHERIES FISHES HABITATS HABITS HIGH DENSITY HISTORY INVERTEBRATES LARVAE LIFE CYCLES LIFE(BIOLOGY) MUD OXYGEN PARASITES PARTICULATES PROFILES SALINITY SAND SEDIMENTS SHELLFISH SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN SUBSTRATES SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS TAXONOMY WATER WATER FLOW WATER QUALITY Predators *Hard clams *Mercenaria mercenaria Filter feeding |
spellingShingle |
Biological Oceanography *CLAMS ADULTS BEHAVIOR COASTAL REGIONS COMMERCIAL FISHING CRABS CURRENTS DISTRIBUTION EGGS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ENVIRONMENTS ESTUARIES FEEDING FISHERIES FISHES HABITATS HABITS HIGH DENSITY HISTORY INVERTEBRATES LARVAE LIFE CYCLES LIFE(BIOLOGY) MUD OXYGEN PARASITES PARTICULATES PROFILES SALINITY SAND SEDIMENTS SHELLFISH SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN SUBSTRATES SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS TAXONOMY WATER WATER FLOW WATER QUALITY Predators *Hard clams *Mercenaria mercenaria Filter feeding Eversole, Arnold G Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
topic_facet |
Biological Oceanography *CLAMS ADULTS BEHAVIOR COASTAL REGIONS COMMERCIAL FISHING CRABS CURRENTS DISTRIBUTION EGGS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ENVIRONMENTS ESTUARIES FEEDING FISHERIES FISHES HABITATS HABITS HIGH DENSITY HISTORY INVERTEBRATES LARVAE LIFE CYCLES LIFE(BIOLOGY) MUD OXYGEN PARASITES PARTICULATES PROFILES SALINITY SAND SEDIMENTS SHELLFISH SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN SUBSTRATES SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS TAXONOMY WATER WATER FLOW WATER QUALITY Predators *Hard clams *Mercenaria mercenaria Filter feeding |
description |
Species profiles are literature summaries of the taxonomy, morphology, range, life history and environmental requirements of coastal species. They are designed to assist in environmental impact assessment. The hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, supports an important commercial fishery in the South Atlantic, averaging about 1 million kg of meats annually from 1979 to 1983. It also is an important constituent of estuarine systems throughout the region. Spawning occurs in the spring and the fall at 16 to 30 C. Plank tonic eggs and larvae are carried by water currents, and larvae set sometime after 6 days of age. Mortality is highest in egg and larval stages, the most sensitive part of the life cycle. Spat display gregarious setting behavior and appear to select sand over finer substrates. Highest densities of clams occur in sandy bottoms with shell. Crab predation is an important factor influencing the density and distribution of clams. Blue crabs and mud crabs appear to be the most important predators. Hard clams are infested by few parasites. Adult clams feed by filtering suspended particulates matter from the water. Growth of clams decreases with size and age. Growth occurs year-round with peaks in spring and fall. Growth of adult hard clams occurs at 9-31 C and at 4-35 ppt (optima near 20 C and 24-28 ppt). Hard clams mature in 2 years and reach commercial size in 3 years in the South Atlantic. Tight-fitting shells permit hard clams to survive poor water quality for short periods. Keywords: Shellfish, Growth(Physiology), Salinity, Temperature, Fisheries, Suspended sediments, Sediments, Feeding habits, Life cycles, Oxygen, Contaminants, Habitat, Hard calm. |
author2 |
CLEMSON UNIV SC |
format |
Text |
author |
Eversole, Arnold G |
author_facet |
Eversole, Arnold G |
author_sort |
Eversole, Arnold G |
title |
Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
title_short |
Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
title_full |
Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
title_fullStr |
Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
title_full_unstemmed |
Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Atlantic) Hard Clam |
title_sort |
species profiles: life histories and environmental requirements of coastal fishes and invertebrates (south atlantic) hard clam |
publishDate |
1987 |
url |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA189696 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA189696 |
genre |
South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
South Atlantic Ocean |
op_source |
DTIC AND NTIS |
op_relation |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA189696 |
op_rights |
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE |
_version_ |
1766200505797705728 |