Byssus Growth in Winged Pearl Oyster Pteria penguin (Röding, 1798)

ABSTRACT Relationships between shell morphological traits and byssus dimensions in adult winged pearl oysters Pteria penguin are described to include a more detailed description of byssus growth in juveniles under typical culture conditions. Byssus growth, byssus diameter (BD) relations between the byssus and shell traits [shell height; total wet weight (TW)], byssus occurrence, and the size distributions in samples collected monthly or bimonthly over a 1-y duration were recorded. Pearl oysters exhibited continuous shell growth and weight increase over the experimental period, but byssal measurements exhibited a different pattern. The increase in BD decreased as oysters aged and no further increase was observed after day 267. Moreover, BD/TW ratio exhibited a steadily diminishing trend as P. penguin aged. The relationships between the BD and the shell traits in 68-day-old oysters proved to be insignificant, probably because the oysters were neither heavy nor large enough to exhibit the relationships, but ...