Effects of mass and position of artificial fouling added to the upper valve of the mangrove oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae on its growth and survival

We ran an experiment on mangrove oysters Crassostrea rhizophorae to evaluate the effects of adding different masses of artificial fouling to the upper valve, either to the umbo region or the ventral edge of the shell. Growth and survival were quantified after a 30 d period in suspended culture in the La Restinga Lagoon, Venezuela. The artificial fouling was cement weighing 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 fold the mass of the upper valve. No fouling was added to a control group. Fouling mass, but not the position of the artificial fouling, affected growth in shell length. However, only the heaviest fouling (3 times the mass of the upper valve) had a significant effect. In contrast, there was no affect of either fouling mass or position on tissue growth. Finally, our data indicated that mortality could be affected by the position where we added artificial fouling (greater mortality when fouling was added to the ventral edge of the shell), but not by fouling mass. Our study indicates it is unlikely that the levels of natural fouling that develop on oysters in suspended culture would be sufficient to affect either growth or survival.