Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T05:17:23.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Annual cycle of shell growth increment formation in two continental shelf bivalves and its paleoecologic significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Douglas S. Jones
Douglas S. Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The bivalves Spisula solidissima, the Atlantic surf clam, and Arctica islandica, the ocean quahog, from the continental shelf off New Jersey, contain repeating structures in their shells. By analyzing the growing shell margins in living specimens at bi-weekly (or sometimes monthly) intervals throughout two consecutive years, it was possible to define an annual cycle of shell growth increment formation in both species. The shell increments in each species are microstructurally distinct units that form over a period of several months at select seasons of the year. Each species has two alternating shell growth increments, GI I and GI II. GI I (the annual growth line of previous studies) is formed annually in the late summer-fall in S. solidissima and in the fall-early winter in A. islandica. These periods correspond to the spawning phase of the reproductive cycle in both species. No winter rings were found. The annual increments were used to determine age and growth rate in both Recent and Pleistocene specimens. They may also be useful in determining season of death. Because shell growth increments are formed in synchrony among living populations in these species, mass mortalities may be distinguished in the fossil record. Accurate age and growth rate determinations in fossils are important in many paleobiologic contexts, such as deciding between increased longevity or growth rate in cases of phyletic size increase.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Summer 1980 , pp. 331 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Ambrose, W. G., Jones, D. S., and Thompson, I.In preparation. Distance from shore and growth rate of the suspension feeding bivalve, Spisula solidissima.Google Scholar
Andrews, J. T. 1972. Recent and fossil growth rates of marine bivalves, Canadian arctic, and late-Quaternary arctic marine environments. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol. 11:157–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, R. M. 1964. Microtextural variation in pelecypod shells. Malacologia. 2(1):69–86.Google Scholar
Barker, R. M. 1970. Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. and Barker, R. M. 1968. Fossil bivalve shells indicate longer month and year in Cretaceous than present. Nature. 217:938–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. and Barker, R. M. 1975. Growth increments in fossil and modern bivalves. Pp. 9–25. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. 559 pp.John Wiley and Sons; New York.Google Scholar
Carter, J. G. 1980. Bivalve shell microstructure. In: Rhoads, D. C. and Lutz, R. A., eds. Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms: Biological Records of Environmental Change. 650 pp. Plenum Press; New York.Google Scholar
Clark, G. R. 1968. Mollusk shell: daily growth lines. Science. 161:800–802.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, G. R. 1974. Growth lines in invertebrate skeletons. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2:77–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G. R. 1979. Seasonal growth variations in the shells of recent and prehistoric specimens of Mercenaria mercenaria from St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Anthropol. Pap. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 56:161–179.Google Scholar
Coch, N. D., Thurber, D. L., and Goddard, J. 1972. The age of the Norfolk Formation, southeast Virginia. Geol. Soc. Am. Annu. Meeting Abstracts with Programs. 7:474–475.Google Scholar
Coutts, P. J. F. 1970. Bivalve growth patterning as a method for seasonal dating in archaeology. Nature. 226:874.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coutts, P. J. F. 1975. The seasonal perspective of marine-oriented prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Pp. 243–252. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. 559 pp.John Wiley and Sons; New York.Google Scholar
Dalmon, J. 1935. Note sur la biologie du pétoncle (Chlamys varia L.). Rev. Trav. Off. Pêches Marit. 8:268–281.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, W. S. 1953. A population study of the Tasmanian commercial scallop, Notovola meridionalis (Tate). Aust. Mar. Freshwater Res. 4:1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, J. 1948. Mollusca from the Miocene and lower Pliocene of Virginia and North Carolina. Part 1. Pelecypoda. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 199-A:1–178.Google Scholar
Gordon, J. and Carriker, M. R. 1978. Growth lines in a bivalve mollusk: subdaily patterns and dissolution of the shell. Science. 202:519–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S. J. 1979. Time's vastness. Nat. Hist. 88(4):18–27.Google Scholar
Gutsell, J. S. 1931. Natural history of the bay scallop. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fisheries. 46:569–632.Google Scholar
Hall, C. A., Dollase, W. A., and Corbató, C. E. 1974. Shell growth in Tivela stultorum (Mawe, 1823) and Callista chione (Linnaeus, 1758) (Bivalvia): annual periodicity, latitudinal differences, and diminution with age. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol. 15:33–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A. 1975. Evolutionary size increase and longevity in Jurassic bivalves and ammonites. Nature. 258:493–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A. 1978. How rare is phyletic gradualism and what is its evolutionary significance? Evidence from Jurassic bivalves. Paleobiology. 4:16–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L. and Nudds, J. R. 1975. Carboniferous coral geochronometers. Pp. 27–42. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. 559 pp.John Wiley and Sons; New York.Google Scholar
Jones, D. S., Thompson, I., and Ambrose, W. 1978. Age and growth rate determinations for the Atlantic surf clam Spisula solidissima (Bivalvia: Mactracea), based on internal growth lines in shell cross-sections. Mar. Biol. 47:63–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. S. 1980. Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University; Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Kahn, P. G. K. and Pompea, S. M. 1978. Nautiloid growth rhythms and dynamical evolution of the Earth-Moon system. Nature. 275:606–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kato, Y. and Hamai, I. 1975. Growth and shell formation of the surf clam, Spisula sachalinensis (Schrenck). Bull. Fac. Fish. Hokkaido Univ. 25:291–303.Google Scholar
Kennish, M. J. and Olsson, R. K. 1975. Effects of thermal discharges on the microstructural growth of Mercenaria mercenaria. Environ. Geol. 1:41–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koike, H. 1973. Daily growth lines of the clam Meretrix lusoria: a basic study for estimation of Prehistoric seasonal gathering. J. Anthropol. Soc. Nippon. 81:122–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosanoff, V. L. 1953. Reproductive cycle in Cyprina islandica. Biol. Bull. 104:146–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, R. A. 1976. Annual growth patterns in the inner shell layer of Mytilus edulis L. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 56:723–731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, R. A. and Rhoads, D. C. 1977. Anaerobiosis and a theory of growth line formation. Science. 198:1222–1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzulo, S. J. 1971. Length of the year during the Silurian and Devonian periods: new values. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 82:1085–1086.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrill, A. S., Chamberlain, J. L., and Ropes, J. W. 1969. Ocean quahog fishery. Pp. 125–129. In: Firth, F. E., ed. The Encyclopedia of Marine Resources. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company; New York.Google Scholar
Pannella, G. and MacClintock, C. 1968. Biological and environmental rhythms reflected in molluscan shell growth. J. Paleontol. Mem. 42(Suppl. 5):64–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pannella, G., MacClintock, C., and Thompson, M. N. 1968. Paleontological evidence of variations in length of synodic month since late Cambrian. Science. 162:792–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelosio, G. and Raffi, S. 1977. Preliminary remarks on mollusc assemblages of the Stirone river Pleistocene series (Parma Province, Northern Italy). X INQUA Congress—Birmingham. 19 pp.Google Scholar
Rhoads, D. C. and Pannella, G. 1970. The use of molluscan shell growth patterns in ecology and paleoecology. Lethaia. 3:143–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ropes, J. W. 1968. Reproductive cycle of the surf clam, Spisula solidissima, in offshore New Jersey. Biol. Bull. 135:349–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ropes, J. W. 1971. Surf clams and ocean quahogs. Annual Rep. Am. Malacol. Union Bull. 37:22–23.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. 1975. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. 559 pp. John Wiley and Sons; New York.Google Scholar
Sambol, M. and Finks, R. M. 1977. Natural selection in a Cretaceous oyster. Paleobiology. 3:1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1965. Periodicity in Devonian coral growth. Palaeontology. 7:552–558.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1970. Evidence for a monthly periodicity in the growth of some corals. Pp. 11–16. In: Runcorn, S. K., ed. Palaeogeophysics. Academic Press; London.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1978. Periodic growth features in fossil organisms and the length of the day and month. Pp. 154–196. In: Broche, P. and Sundermann, J., eds. Tidal Friction and the Earth's Rotation. Springer-Verlag; Berlin.Google Scholar
Thompson, I., Jones, D. S., and Dreibelbis, D. 1980. Annual internal growth banding and life history of the ocean quahog Arctica islandica (Mullusca: Bivalvia). Mar. Biol. (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, K. R. and Parker, W. C. 1976. Population structure of a pioneer and a later stage species in an Ordovician ecological succession. Paleobiology. 2:191–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, J. W. 1963. Coral growth and geochronometry. Nature. 197:948–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weymouth, F. W. 1923. The life-history and growth of the pismo clam (Tivela stultorum Mawe). Fish. Bull. (Calif.). 7:1–120.Google Scholar