Crustacean fauna of a mussel cultivated raft system in the Black Sea

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to make a faunistic analysis of the crustaceans associated with cultivated mussels grown on ropes. Mussel samples from 30 cm ropes were collected from rope-grown mussel beds by hand. The crustacean fauna associated with mussel population were quantified. The density of crustacean fauna associated with mussels was significantly greater within rope-grown mussel assemblages than on other biotopes around.

Keywords

• Crustacea
• Mytilus galloprovincialis
• raft culture
• rope-grown mussels
• species richness