| The total standing stock of bivalves cultured in Thau Lagoon (France) that is mainly constituted of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, and the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, vary between 14,000 and 20,000 tons within a year. These variations were attributed to the rearing cycle of molluscs in the lagoon but also to their growth performances. Oysters cultured in the Thau Lagoon presented the best growth rate ever reported whereas trophic conditions are low : mean concentrations in organic particulate matter and total chlorophyll a averaged 1 mg.l-1 and 1.2 µg.l-1, respectively. The development of a growth model shows that temporal pattern (i.e. seasonality) of bivalve growth is explained by water temperature and spatial pattern is... |
