Reproduction study of purplish Washington clam, Saxidomus purpuratus in Jinhae bay, Korea : Spawning and shell length at 50% sexual maturity

This study investigated purplish Washington clam, Saxidomus purpuratus on its gonadal development, reproductive cycle and shell length (age) at 50% female group maturity from January to December 2011 in Jinhae Bay, Korea. This species is dioecious. The gonad index (GI) began to increase in January, reached the maximum value in May and to decrease in June, reached the minimum value in September then to increase slowly in October again. The reproductive cycle of the clams can be divided into five successive stages: the early active stage (Ea, from February to March), the late active stage (La, from January to March and October to December), the ripe stage (R, from January to May), the spawning stage (S, from June to December) and the degenerative and inactive stage (Ia, from January to February and November to December). The spawning periods were from June to December and the main spawning periods were from July to October. The shell length at 50% female group maturity (SL50) was estimated to be 63.6 mm, which can be converted as sexual maturity age of 2.2 year.