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The effect of temperature on the filtration rate of Solen cylindraceus (Hanley)(Mollusca: Bivalvia)


C.J. de Villiers
B.A. Allanson
A.N. Hodgson

Abstract

Filtration rates of the infaunal estuarine bivalve Solen cylindraceuswere determined. The filtration rate of animals collected in summer (26°C) and winter (16,5°C), although significantly different, exhibit only slight variation in absolute rate, and may be expressed as a function of shell length, by the equations y = 0.247×1,066 (winter) and y = 0,758×0,826 (summer). Solen cylindraceus acclimates to both high and low temperatures under laboratory conditions. Filtration rates show a thermal optimum in the range 15–35°C, declining at higher and lower temperatures. Q10 values of filtration decrease rapidly from greater than 4 to less than 2 when the thermal optimum is reached. Maximum rates generally occur approximately 5°C above the temperature to which the animal has been acclimated.

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2224-073X
print ISSN: 1562-7020