Assimilation of Particulate Organic Matter, Particulate Organic Nitrogen, and Particulate Organic Phosphorus from Filtered Green Microalgae (Tetraselmis sp.) by Green Mussel (Perna viridis)

Abstract

Percentage of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus from filtered Tetraselmis sp. assimilated by green mussel (Perna viridis) were estimated from total amount of organic matter and nutrients in filtered microalgae and the amount of organic matter and nutrients remaining in feces and psuedofeces of the bivalves. According to this study, 37.8% of filtered particulate organic matter, 54.0% of filtered particulate organic nitrogen, and 77.7% of filtered particulate organic phosphorus were assimilated by green mussel. Feces and psuedofeces of the bivalve which were rejected or excreted back into the water before settling down to the bottom contained 62.2% of particulate organic matter, 46.0% of particulate nitrogen, and 22.3% of particulate organic phosphorus. The results of this study indicated the possibility of using green mussels to remove particulate organic matter, particulate organic nitrogen and particulate organic phosphorus from surrounding water by assimilating some portion of them into its biomass while transferring the other portion of unassimilated ingested particulate organic matter and nutrients together with uningested filtered particulate organic matter and nutrients to the sediment.