LINEAR GROWTH OF WHITE-SEA MUSSELS WITH A CHANGE IN HABITAT CONDITIONS

The authors studied peculiarities of seasonal changes in linear growth of mussels in conditions of suspended cultivation in the littoral in Chupa Bay (Kandalaksh Gulf, White Sea). The possibility of modeling th e seasonal periodicity of growth of White Sea mussels according to the dynamics of water temperature was shown. When littoral mussels were m oved to a suspended culture, their growth rate was lower than for cult ivated molluscs. The latter, transferred to the littoral, outstripped originally littoral mussels in growth. The dependence of molluscs' gro wth rate on their size and age is discussed.