Seasonal growth of the abalone,
Haliotis gigantea, was investigated both in the laboratory and in the field during the period 1980-1987 off Izu-Oshima (34°45' N, 139°25'E) . Abalone were tagged and the shell growth of each individual was measured every month during the course of two laboratory experiments and three field experiments.
Mean shell growth was rapid from May to July and slowed down or ceased between September and December, while the rate varied according to the rearing and environmental conditions between January and April. In the laboratory experiments, shells often kept growing in the period of highest water temperature (September, 24.4-24.9°C), although shell growth ceased or slowed down in the prespawning and spawning season (November to December) when the temperature fell, showing that cessation of shell growth is mostly influenced by sexual maturity. In the field experiments, mean growths were slow from January to April when only a small amount of the brown alga,
Eckloniopsis radicosa, which is the preferred food of the abalone, was available. The rate of growth cessation, which lasted for over one month between September and March, depended on the size of the abalone,
i. e. 100% in larger abalone (110-138mm shell length) and 58.3% in smaller abalone (59-80mm shell length) .
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