Effects of sea water temperature and salinity on the growth and survival of juvenile Meretrix meretrix Linnaeus.

A laboratory test was conducted to study the effects of different sea water temperature (17 grads) and salinity (19 grads) on the growth and survival of juvenile Meretrix meretrix. The suitable and optimum sea water salinities for the survival of juvenile M. meretrix were 6.5-39.5 and 9.0-31.0, and those for the juvenile growth were 7.3-38.7 and 15.0-23.0, respectively. The suitable sea water temperature for the survival of the juveniles was 4.0° C-36.1° C; the suitable temperature for the growth was 7.0° C-35.4° C, more suitable temperature was 17° C-33.5° C, and the optimum growth temperature was 24° C-27° C. Juvenile M. meretrix had stronger adaptability to high sea water temperature and low sea water salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]