Relation of crystalline style function to food availability and environmental conditions in South African mussels

Fielding, Peter John

Relation of crystalline style function to food availability and environmental conditions in South African mussels

Doctoral Thesis

1987

Abstract

The mussels Choromytilus meridionalis, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Perna perna and Aulacomya ater are important and often dominant organisms on the littoral and sublittoral shores of the South Africa. M. galloprovincialis has only recently been identified as a separate species, but a cons1derable body of information exists on the physiology and energetics of c. meridionalis, P. perna and A. ater. However, it is not clear what factors determine the different intertidal and geographic distributions of these mytilids. Work in the kelp beds has shown that the energy budgets of mussels depends on the utilisation of particulate material from both kelp and phytoplankton production, which have very different structural complexities and biochemical compositions. There is very little information on the digestive enzymes of South African mussels. The activity of these enzymes will be an important factor affecting the ability of the mussels to effectively utilise a food resource, and this may be a mechanism which partially accounts for their differing distributions. This work examines the quantitative and qualitative nature of the suspended particulate food resource at the boundary of the east and west coast mussel ranges, the differences in the digestive enzyme activities of the four mussel species that might utilise the food resource, and 'the animals' abilities to digest this particulate material.

Keywords

Mussels

Physiology

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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