Studies on some aspects of biology of the wedge-clam, Donax faba Gmelin from Mandapam coast in the Gulf of Mannar

Abstract

Research work on the biology of edible molluscan shellfish was started comparatively recently in India and there have been considerable preliminary and some detailed investigations on various species of local importance and the results obtained are of some value. Some of the notable contributions are : on Paphia tmdulata (Winckworth, 1931), on Mytilus viridis (Paul, 1942), on Crassostrea madrasensis (Paul, 1942 ; Rao, 1951, 1956 ; Rao and Nayar (1956), on Mytilus sp. (Jones, 1950), on Katelysia opima (Rao, 1952), on Meretrix casta (Abraham, 1953 ; Durve, 1963), on Pinctada sp, (Gokhale et ah, 1954), on Sepioteuthis arctipinnis (Rao, 1954), on Donax cuneatus (Nayar, 1955), on Crassostrea gryphoides (Durve and Bal, 1961, 1962 ; Durve, 1964a and 1965) and on Solen kempi (Rao et ah, 1962). These studies have broadly elucidated some aspects of biology of these molluscs such as growth, feeding and spawning