Effects of Aggregation on Growth and Survival of the Intertidal Stalked Barnacle, Capitulum mitella

Abstract

The growth and survival of marked individuals of Capitulum mitella were examined for one year of Tomioka, Japan. Survival rates of individuals on the edges of aggregates did not differ significantly from those of individuals on the interior, nor did isolated individuals differ significantly from aggregated ones in this respect. Overall, annual survivorship was about 80%. A power function best described the relationship between specific growth rate and size. The growth of individuals on the edges of aggregates did not differ from that of interior individuals, nor did growth differ significantly between isolated and aggregated individuals. The integrated form of the power function indicates that it would take five years for an individual in an aggregate to reach its mature size at a rostral-carinal length of 10mm.