Abstract
The results of the analysis of the stable oxygen isotopes content in shell carbonates for the purpose of the individual age determination of the Rapana venosa gastropod (Valenciennes 1846) are presented. The data acquired via this method agreed with the number of spawning marks on the shell surface. Additionally, the duration of the seasonal extrema can indicate the velocity of the shell’s growth throughout the mollusk life, and the relative δ18O value in the shell’s near-apex increments, the season when a young shell comes out of its cocoon. It has been shown that the common method of growth rings counting at the operculum is unreliable for a shell’s age determination. The distinguishing of modal classes is ineffective as well, since the corridor of the variations in size for coeval individuals is very broad. Apparently, such variable characteristics as the growth rate, the wall’s thickness, and the relative weight are greatly dependent on the alimentary conditions, which are unequal even in the same biotope.
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Original Russian Text © A.R. Kosyan, Zh.A. Antipushina, 2011, published in Okeanologiya, 2011, Vol. 51, No. 6, pp. 1082–1089.
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Kosyan, A.R., Antipushina, Z.A. Determination of Rapana venosa individuals’ ages based on the δ18O dynamics of the shell carbonates. Oceanology 51, 1021–1028 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437011060075
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437011060075