Some Aspects of Population Dynamics of a Mytilid Musculista senhousia (BENSON) on Tidal Flats

Abstract

Based on monthly sampling for three years on the tidal flats, some aspects of population dynamics of Musculista senhousia were examined. The spatio-temporal distribution of densities of the Musculista specimens indicated that the distribution was strongly patchy due to occurrence of dense colonies of the small-sized juveniles, and to their mass mortality caused by sporadic heavy rains coupled with typhoons. Therefore, the number and size of the cohorts showed considerable annual fluctuations. It can be concluded that the cohort establishment of M. senhousia in the flats does not depend directly on strength of the recruitment, while collapsing of the cohorts and/or failure of the recruits are caused by catastrophic episodes of physical disturbance.