Transport of recently settled soft-shell clams ( Mya arenaria L.) in laboratory flume flow

A laboratory flume was used to examine the retention of juvenile soft-shell clams (2 wk postsettlement) in sediment when exposed to flow. Clams resisted erosion until the initiation of sediment transport, after which they were rapidly advected from sections of test substrate. Comparisons between living and killed clams indicated that burrowing behavior was instrumental for maintaining position in flow ≤ the critical erosion velocity for sediment movement. The ability of low density, shallow-burrowing juvenile bivalves to avoid transport as bedload or resuspended particles is probably minimal during erosional periods, despite that fact that the position of larger, deeper living individuals may be unaffected. In energetic regimes, infaunal recruitment patterns can be dominated by hydrodynamic forces affecting juveniles.