Survival and growth of the native clam Anomalocardia brasiliana (Gmelin, 1791) larvae in laboratory

Abstract

High exploitation of natural stocks and changes in the environment has affected the populations of the native clam Anomalocardia brasiliana, becoming necessary the development of technologies for seeds production in laboratory. Aiming to contribute to the seeds production technology of the native clam A. brasiliana, the density and diet of larval cultivation and time for larviculture was evaluated. In the densities 10 and 30 larvae mL^-1 the better survival of A. brasiliana larvae were obtained. Evaluating the larviculture time for settlement, the larvae can be transferred after five days of culture and maintained in the settlement in a density of 25 larvae cm^-2. Additionally, bialgal diets with the microalgae Chaetoceros muelleri and Nannocholopsis oculata, and C. muelleri and Pavlova lutheri showed better growth and survival of A. brasiliana larvae.