Response to selection for shell length in the noble scallop, Chlamys nobilis (Reeve)

Abstract

The noble scallop, Chlamys nobilis is one of the most economically important fishery and aquaculture species in the southern coast of China. In the present study, we conducted a one generation mass selection for shell length in a cultured noble scallop stock with a selection intensity of 1.732, to examine their response to selection. The results show that the selected line grew faster than the control line in shell length (P<0.05), and survival of the selected line was significantly larger (P<0.05) at larvae, spat and grow-out stage. The current genetic gains were 0.1653 ± 0.0238 for spat and 0.1379 ± 0.0408 for grow-out, and realized heritability for shell length at spat and grow-out stages were 0.8285 ± 0.0997 and 0.4544 ± 0.1112, respectively. The results indicate that a large amount of genetic variance remains in the cultured scallop stock, improvement for growth traits can be achieved through only one generation of selection and mass selection on growth improvement was promising.

Keywords: Noble scallop, Chlamys nobilis, genetic gains, realized heritability, shell length