Feeding Ecology of Asian Green Mussel (Perna viridis): Influences of Sexes, Sizes, Habitats and Seasons

Abstract

This study is aimed to evaluate the impacts of sex, size, habitat and season on feeding habits and assess food selectivity of Asian green mussel (Perna viridis) collected monthly from three different sites in Pattani Bay, Thailand during June 2016 to May 2017. Altogether, a total of 2,627 of P. viridis were collected by handpicking from the wild and brought back to the laboratory for further investigation. Additional collections, one sampling occasion for each habitat, were collected during July and December 2016, and April 2017 from other three different habitats including Aceh of Indonesia, Trang and Suratthani of Thailand. It was found that P. viridis is omnivorous, feeding on a wide range of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Overall, Coscinodiscus was the major food item (38.59%), followed by green mussel larvae (22.19%) and Pleurosigma (12.65%). Results from ANOVA indicated that size, habitat and season highly affected both total number of food count and total number of food item fed by P. viridis (P<0.01). Result from T-test indicated a significant difference on total number of food count and total number of food item between sex (P<0.01). A specifc food seletion by P. viridis based on availability of food resources in the habitat was measured. This finding helps in understanding how P. viridis feeds and selects food in nature from different localities.