Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-18T19:55:52.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The American whelk tingle, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say), on British oyster beds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

H. A. Cole
H. A. Cole
Affiliation:
Fisheries Experiment Station, Conway, N. Wales
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The American whelk tingle, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say), a gastropod enemy of oysters, has been introduced to Britain with American oysters and is now established in the rivers Blackwater, Colne, Crouch and Roach in Essex and on the Kentish Flats off Whitstable. Evidence available concerning the migratory powers of Urosalpinx is conflicting, but it is probable that migration is of local significance only in the spread of this pest. To infest new areas tingles or their spawn must be transported by human or other agency, for Urosalpinx has no free-swimming larval stage, the eggs being deposited in capsules from which fully formed young tingles emerge.

Females of Urosalpinx grow more quickly than males and reach a larger size. In males the annual increase in shell height never exceeds 0·2 cm. after the first 3 years, and is generally rather less. In females an annual increment of 0·2 cm., or slightly more, is general up to the age of about 7 years, after which it gradually falls. Males and females of the same age differ in height by about 0·25 cm. Growth marks are frequently to be seen on the shell and are of value in assessing growth rates. In both sexes a maximum age of 13–14 years may be reached. Urosalpinx reaches a much greater average size in Britain than in its natural habitat on the Atlantic coast of the U.S.A.

Females may deposit some spawn during the first 2 years of life, but the amount is insignificant in relation to the production of older tingles. Spawning begins when the water temperature in its seasonal rise reaches 12° C. Adult females may deposit an average of 25 egg capsules at a single laying, but it is possible that further capsules are deposited later in the season. The bulk of the spawn is deposited in May and June on British beds, but a few freshly laid capsules may sometimes be found in August and September. The average period of incubation is about eight weeks. Young tingles usually begin to emerge early in July. The average number of young emerging from each capsule is 11–74. Urosalpinx appears to be more prolific on British oyster beds than in America.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , October 1942 , pp. 477 - 508
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1942

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

REFERENCES

Buchanan-Wollaston, H. J. & Hodgson, W. C., 1929. A new method of treating frequency curves in fishery statistics, with some results. Journ. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer., Vol. IV, pp. 207–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, H. A., 1941. Sex-ratio in Urosalpinx cinerea, the American oyster drill. Nature, Vol. CXLVII, p. 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federighi, H., 1930. Control of the common oyster drill. U.S. Bur. Fish., Econ. Circ. 70, pp. 1–7.Google Scholar
Federighi, H. 1931. Studies on the oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea, Say). Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., Vol. XLVII, pp. 85–115.Google Scholar
Fretter, V., 1941. The genital ducts of some British stenoglossan prosobranchs. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XXV, pp. 173–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galtsoff, P., Prytherch, H. F. & Engle, J. B., 1937. Natural history and methods of controlling the common oyster drills (Urosalpinx cinerea Say and Eupleura caudata Say). U.S. Bur. Fish., Fish. Circ. 25, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Lebour, M. V., 1912. A review of British marine cercariae. Parasitology, Vol. IV, pp. 416–56.Google Scholar
McMillan, N. F., 1939. Early records of Crepidula in English waters. Proc. Malacol. Soc. London, Vol. XXIII, p. 236.Google Scholar
Moore, H. B., 1936. The biology of Purpura lapillus. I. Shell variations in relation to environment. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XXI, pp. 61–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J. R., 1931. Trapping the oyster drill. N. J. Agric. Exp. Stat. Bull. 523, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H., 1927. The habits and economic importance of the rough whelk-tingle (Murex erinaceus). Nature, Vol. CXX, pp. 653–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H. 1929. Habitats and feeding habits of Ocinebra erinacea. Nature, Vol. CXXIV, pp. 370–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H. 1930. On the oyster drills in the Essex estuaries. Essex Naturalist, Vol. XXII, pp. 298–306.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H. 1937. Oyster Biology and Oyster Culture. London.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H. & Amirthalingam, C., 1929. The oyster drills on English oyster beds. Nature, Vol. CXXIV, pp. 298–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H. & Lewis, H. M., 1931. On the effect of the severe winter of 1928–1929 on the oyster drills of the Blackwater estuary. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XVII, pp. 301–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H. & Winckworth, R., 1928. The occurrence of the American oyster pest Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) on English oyster beds. Nature, Vol. CXXII, p. 241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robson, G. C., 1929. On the dispersal of the American slipper limpet in English waters. Proc. Malacol. Soc. London, Vol. XVIII, p. 273.Google Scholar
Rothschild, M., 1936. Gigantism and variation in Peringia ulvae Pennant 1777, caused by infection with larval trematodes. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XX, pp. 537–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stunkard, H. W. & Shaw, C. R., 1931. The effect of dilution on the activity and longevity of certain marine cercariae, with descriptions of two new species. Biol. Bull., Vol. LXI, pp. 242–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar