Fecal coliform accumulation and depuration in the oyster Crassostrea gigas

• Main Authors: Corre, S., Jacq, E., Plusquellec, A., Beucher, M., Prieur, D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Institut für Meereskunde 1991
• Subjects: Crassostrea gigas
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/56243/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/56243/1/Corre_S_1991.pdf

Experiments on fecal coliform accumulation and depuration in the oyster Crassostrea gigas were performed under two seasons (winter, summer), under various conditions of bacterial concentration (from 101 to 103 CFU ml-1) and suspended matter (10 to 50 mg l-1). Contamination process in the bivalve is mainly influenced by the bacterial density in the seawater. Influence of suspended matter concentration was less effective. Maximal bacterial accumulation was reached within 30 min. in summer (18 °C) and 5 hours in winter (11 °C). Concerning depuration process a 10 fold decrease of initial contamination required 3 hours and a 100 fold decrease was achieved within 10 hours. Time required for depuration was mainly dependent on the initial bacterial concentration in the oyster.