Combined effects of reduced salinity and food quantity on the shell growth of the mussel, Mytilus edulis L.

The combined effect of reduced salinity and food quantity on mussel Mytilus edulis shell growth was examined in two multi-factorial experiments. Maximum salinity, maximum food quantity and other environmental variables, like temperature and food quality, fluctuated in the field-laboratory in the same way as that of the seawater outside. Both experiments yielded significant, but opposite food-salinity interaction effects. In the second experiment salinity effect was most apparent at low food levels. whereas in the first experiment intermediate food levels showed the highest salinity effect.