Feeding and growth of the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera (L.

)
in Dongonab Bay, Red Sea

Dirar H. Nasr
Institute of Oceanography, National Councilfor Research, Port Sudan, Sudan

Keywords: Sudan, pearl oyster, feeding, growth, Red Sea, Sudan

Abstract

Plankton samples and gut contents of P. margaritiferawere analysed monthly from April 1972 to March
1973. Coscinodiscus sp. was the most ingested food by pearl oysters of all ages. However, food variety
increased as the oyster grew older. Experiments confirmed the absence of food selectivity in P. margaritifera.
Unlike the young ones, the adult showed reduced growth during summer (July-September), which coincides
with its spawning season.

Introduction Material and methods

The cultivation of the mother-of-pearl oyster,
Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus) in Dongonab
Bay was intermittently successful since 1908. It is
collected as spat on large rafts soon after the spawn-
ing season (July-August), kept for one year in
nursery trays at Um El Sheikh Island and then
transferred to growing trays at Dongonab Village
(Fig. 1).
Previous work included a physical description of
Dongonab Bay, the cultivation techniques of the
mother-of-pearl oyster and its mortality (Cross-
land, 1911, 1931, 1957; Reed, 1964; Nasr, unpub-
lished). In the present investigation plankton sam-
ples and food particles ingested by P. margaritifera
were analysed throughout the period April 1972 to
March 1973. Results of height measurement in-
cluded information on growth during the first two
months following 1972 settlement in addition to
two groups of oysters, 11 and 23 months old, at the
beginning of this investigation.
Stomach contents of the pearl oyster were ana-
lysed by using Moor's (1910) method of washing the
alimentary canal with a slight modification shown
in Fig. 2. Two narrow-ended glass pipettes were
inserted, one in the anus (A) and the other in the
mouth (M) of the oyster (O). The water flow out of
a Buchman bottle (BB), that acted as an aspirator,
was regulated in such a way that fresh seawater
from the beaker (B) would wash out the contents of
the alimentary canal and those could be collected in
the collecting vessel (V). The collected material was
studied under the microscope. Plankton was col-
lected monthly by towing a plankton net at the rear
of a small boat. Its biomass was determined as total
volume by the water displacement method and ex-
pressed as ml-haul '. The growth rate was deter-
mined by the monthly measurement of the shell
height, referring to the maximum distance between
the umbo and the ventral margin of the shell.

Hydrobiologia 110, 241 245 (1984).

© Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague. Printed in the Netherlands.
242

Fig. 1. Aerial photograph of Dongonab Bay showing Dongonab Village (X) and Umm El Sheikh Island (Y).
 243

OU 32
ill
:

28
icr

-4
- 24

on

Fig. 2. Device for washing the alimentary canal of P. margari- _w

tifera; A, anus; B, beaker; BB, Buchmans bottle; CV, collecting I
vessels; M, mouth; O, oyster (after Moore, 1910).

7
Results z0
2
z
Feeding

Plankton abundance in Dongonab Bay during

-j
a-
1 _:Rf
AM J J AS ON DJ FM
I

1972 X 1973
,

the period April 1972 to March 1973 is shown in

Fig. 3. The maximum was recorded during Febru-
ary, March and April and the minimum during
August, September and October.
The planktonic forms ingested by P. margaritife-
ra are shown in Table 1. Although the percentage of
the individuals in Table 1 was worked out by
numbers on a yearly basis, it demonstrated that
Coscinodiscusand other minute organisms - which
could also be diatoms - were the most ingested
Fig. 3. Monthly plankton volume haul I in Dongonab Bay.
items by oysters of all ages; and that as the oyster
grew older, the variety of food increased. The non-
digested organisms - collected from the rectal re-
gion - included Rhizosolenia, Ostracod larvae and
the tintinnid Helicostomella, but these were collect-
ed only twice from the rectal region.

Table . Percentage composition (by numbers) of organisms in plankton samples and in oyster gut on a yearly basis.

Organisms Percentage Percentage in oysters' gut

in plankton
samples Age of oysters (in months)

4-10 11 22 23-34 35-46

Minute organisms (diatoms) - 72 38.7 38.0 17.0

Coscinodiscus 22.2 22 36.0 31.6 27.0
Trichodesmium - 6 2.5 -- 1.5
Chaetoceros 0.3 11.0 7.0 3.9
Skeletonema 5.5 1.8 0.8
Rhizosolenia 0.5 2.5 7 4.6
Ostracod larvae 0.1 12.3 8.4
Isochrysis (flagellate) 0.1 5.3 21.6
Fish eggs 4.5 5.3 6.2
Helicostomella (diatom) - 1.7
Gastropod larvae 0.7 0.8
Pleurosigma (diatom) 0.1 0.8
Others 4.8 7.4
244

Other planktonic forms were also detected on

some slides prepared for the study of oyster para-
sites. These included the diatoms Thalassionema,
Licmophora and Asterionella, zooplankton cope-
pods, Brachyuranzoea, and Crangonlarvae. These
forms were found in the lumen of the stomach
among other, indigestable, particles.

Food selectivity

P. margaritiferaingested a variety of planktonic

forms which might indicate an absence of food
selectivity. To confirm this, an experiment was car-
ried out in the laboratory with stained sediment as
follows: sediment from oyster farm bottom was
diluted with sea water and stained with neutral red.
The top, fine stained sediment was added to an
aquarium (60 x 30 X 20 cm) containing sea water
aerated at room temperature (26 C) in concentra-
tions of 2 g.l- (net weight). Three four-year-old
oysters were placed on a fine nylon mesh before
being transferred to the aquarium containing the
sediment. The nylon mesh allowed the collection of
pseudofaeces formed by the bivalves. After the
experiment - which lasted five hours - the pseudo-
faeces were collected, dried and weighed. At the
same time, the oysters were removed from their
shells, and washed thoroughly before examining
the stomach contents.
Result
The average amount of pseudofaeces formed by
one oyster weighed 0.8 g (dry weight). The average
weight of stained particles in the gut was 0.05 g per
oyster (dry weight). The same experiment was re-
peated in the Fisheries Laboratory at Burnham-on-
Crouch with Ostrea edulis and Crassostreagigas.
The average amounts of pseudofaeces formed in
this case were 0.09 g and 0.004 g (dry weight) respec-
tively. The amount of stained silt in the gut was
0.02 g (dry weight) in C. gigas and infinitesimal O.
edulis.
The presence of stained particles in the gut of P.
margaritiferais seen to confirm the absence of food
selectivity in this species.
Growth rate
The growth curve of the spat (Fig. 4) shows that
the increase in height was regular until January. It
M J A 0 N D J F M A M
1972-- - 1973
TIME
Fig. 4. Growth rate of P. margaritiferaas determined by height
in relation to temperature.
ceased for the following two months, possibly due
to a drop in temperature which affected feeding,
and to the fact that young oysters are more limited
in food range than adult ones (Table I), so that lack
of suitable food could be involved. However, a
gradual increase in height followed later on. The
oysters of the 1971 settlement showed a slow in-
crease in height from June to September, which are
summer months in Dongonab Bay (Fig. 4). Such a
slow increase was even more significant in the 1970
settlement when growth almost ceased during the
period July to September. However, a diminished
increase in height was also observed during No-
vember to February (rainy winter months) in the
case of the 1971 settlement and during December to
February in the case of the 1970 settlement.
Discussion and conclusion
Herdman (1903) found, among the stomach con-
tents of pearl oysters in Ceylon, fair amounts of
spicules of sponges and small numbers of sand-

grains. The presence of a variety of food including
sediment particles in the gut of P. margaritifera
confirms the absence of selection which is in agree-
ment with the views of Kellogg (1915), Yonge
(1923), Churchill & Lewis (1924) and Nelson (1924)
that oysters ingest small particles regardless of their
food value. The opposing theory by Lotsy (1895),
Allen 1914), and Grave (1916), that oysters and
some mussels may select particles actively, does not
apply to P. margaritifera.
Food availability, temperature of the surround-
ing water, and spawning govern the growth rate of
P. margaritiferain the Red Sea. Higher plankton
volumes were recorded in February, March and
April during the north-east monsoon, causing drift-
ing of plankton to Dongonab and Umm El Sheikh
Island. Other workers have attributed changes in
plankton volume to winds: Moore (1949) in tropi-
cal waters, and Wickstead (1958) in Singapore
Straits.
Young P. margaritifera showed a regular in-
crease in height during the warm months, but this
increase ceased in cool winter months and increased
again with rising temperature (Fig. 4). It seems that
temperature is the most important factor in the
growth of young P. margaritifera when food is
available even in small quantities. This opinion is in
agreement with Yonge (1960): during early life of
oysters there is a regular addition to the shell mar-
gin ceasing only in winter. Adult P. margaritifera
showed reduced or no increase in height during
July, August and September, coinciding with its
spawning season. Many investigators found similar
relations between a reduced growth rate and spawn-
ing in other bivalves (Weymouth, 1923; Quale,
1952; Orton, 1928). After the spawning season, the
height-increase rose to decrease again in December
and January. This second decrease seemed due to
both drop in sea water temperature and decreased
plankton volume. (Fig. 3).
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Prof. Y. B. Abu Gideiri, Saudi
Sudanese Joint Commission, for supervising my
research work, of which this is a third product.
Thanks are due to the Fisheries Research Section
245
for their cooperation and the National Council for
Research for financial support and encouragement.
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