TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of salinity on filtration rates of mussels Mytilus edulis with special emphasis on dwarfed mussels from the low-saline Central Baltic Sea

AU - Riisgard, H. U.

AU - Lüskow, F.

AU - Pleissner, D.

AU - Lundgreen, K.

AU - Lopez, M. A. P.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments This work formed part of the MarBioShell project supported by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation for the period January 2008 to December 2012. Thanks are due to Eva Lindell at the Askö Laboratory, University of Stockholm, for assistance with collecting of mussels. Thanks are due to the Danish Nature Agency, Danish Ministry of the Environment, for providing hydrographical data, and to two anonymous referees for constructive comments on the manuscript.

PY - 2013/9

Y1 - 2013/9

N2 - The effect of salinity on the filtration rate of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, from the brackish Great Belt (Denmark) and the low-saline Central Baltic Sea, respectively, was studied. First, we measured the effect of long-term (weeks) constant ambient salinities between 5 and 30 psu on the filtration rate of M. edulis collected in the Great Belt where the mean salinity is 17 psu. At salinities between 10 and 30 psu, the filtration rates did not vary much, but at 5 psu the filtration rates were significantly lower. Next, we studied dwarfed M. edulis (<25 mm shell length) from Central Baltic Sea (Askö, Sweden) where the mean salinity is 6.5 psu. The maximum filtration rate (F, ml min -1 ind. -1) as a function of shell length (L, mm) and dry weight of soft parts (W, mg) were found to be: F = 0.003L 2.71 and F = 0.478W 0.92, respectively, and these results indicate that the filtration rates of dwarfed Baltic Sea mussels are comparable to filtration rates of Great Belt mussels of similar size exposed to salinities >10 psu. When Baltic Sea mussels acclimatized to 20 psu in the laboratory were exposed to 6.5 psu this caused a drastic reduction in the filtration rate, but after about 2 days the previous high filtration rate was regained at 6.5 psu, and further, a similar pattern was observed when the 6.5 psu exposed mussels were finally re-exposed to 20 psu. The observed lack of Great Belt mussels to completely adjust to 5 psu, in contrast to the ease of Baltic Sea mussels to adjust back and forth between 6.5 and 20 psu, is remarkable and may perhaps be explained by different genotypes of Great Belt and Baltic Sea mussels.

AB - The effect of salinity on the filtration rate of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, from the brackish Great Belt (Denmark) and the low-saline Central Baltic Sea, respectively, was studied. First, we measured the effect of long-term (weeks) constant ambient salinities between 5 and 30 psu on the filtration rate of M. edulis collected in the Great Belt where the mean salinity is 17 psu. At salinities between 10 and 30 psu, the filtration rates did not vary much, but at 5 psu the filtration rates were significantly lower. Next, we studied dwarfed M. edulis (<25 mm shell length) from Central Baltic Sea (Askö, Sweden) where the mean salinity is 6.5 psu. The maximum filtration rate (F, ml min -1 ind. -1) as a function of shell length (L, mm) and dry weight of soft parts (W, mg) were found to be: F = 0.003L 2.71 and F = 0.478W 0.92, respectively, and these results indicate that the filtration rates of dwarfed Baltic Sea mussels are comparable to filtration rates of Great Belt mussels of similar size exposed to salinities >10 psu. When Baltic Sea mussels acclimatized to 20 psu in the laboratory were exposed to 6.5 psu this caused a drastic reduction in the filtration rate, but after about 2 days the previous high filtration rate was regained at 6.5 psu, and further, a similar pattern was observed when the 6.5 psu exposed mussels were finally re-exposed to 20 psu. The observed lack of Great Belt mussels to completely adjust to 5 psu, in contrast to the ease of Baltic Sea mussels to adjust back and forth between 6.5 and 20 psu, is remarkable and may perhaps be explained by different genotypes of Great Belt and Baltic Sea mussels.

KW - Salinity change

KW - Long-term acclimation

KW - Acute effects

KW - Adjustment of filtration rate

KW - Biology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882874285&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/baedd493-d2c7-3071-a5e9-6ed98fabeaa3/

U2 - 10.1007/s10152-013-0347-2

DO - 10.1007/s10152-013-0347-2

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 67

SP - 591

EP - 598

JO - Helgoland Marine Research

JF - Helgoland Marine Research

SN - 1438-387X

IS - 3

ER -