Collection of mussel Mytella falcata spats in artificial collectors at Bertioga channel, Santos Estuary, São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

Through experimental studies carried on Bertioga Channel, Santos Estuary, from 1990 to 1992, for capitation of mussel Mytella falcata spats (sururu), were used two kinds of artificial collectors (rafts and stakes) and different materials: nylon rope, smooth-bamboo and Japanese bamboo (Bambusa sp) for the rafts; Japanese bamboo and wood of mangrove (Avicennia sp) for the stakes. The collectors were employed either in the intertidal or in the infralitoral region. We can conclude that Bertioga Channel is an appropriate place for obtaining the spats of M. falcata, aiming at the exportation for the culture of fattening in other coastal environments. The appropriate year period for putting the artificial collectors is from November to February, and the rafts were more effective in collecting spats than the stake, and the materials with a rough surface were also more effective than the ones with a smooth surface. The spats could not be collected in the intertidal region, probably because the spats cannot resist to air exposition, being the infralitoral region the only viable for obtaining spats, in quantity and quality of commercial interest.