Growth and Survival of the Blood Ark Anadara ovalis (Bruguière, 1789) Cultured in Mesh Bags on Soft‐Bottom Sediments in the Coastal Waters of Georgia

Annual growth and survival rates were measured for blood arks Anadara ovalis (Bruguière 1789) cultured in mesh bags that were placed at the spring‐low‐water mark in soft‐bottom sediments of the Skidaway River, Georgia. The feasibility of growing the arks to a marketable size using this technique was assessed by determining the effects of stocking density and biofouling on growth and survival. Two replicate densities of 190 (low) and 400 (high) arks per mesh bag (mean shell length 31.97 mm) were planted in early September 1999. In April 2000, the arks cultured at the lower density had a significantly larger size (44.99 mm) than at the higher density (43.83 mm), with growth rates of 1.85 mdmo, and 1.69 mm/mo, respectively. Growth decreased considerably in the subsequent months (low: 0.17 mm/mo; high: 0.30 mm/mo). There was no significant difference in ark size between treatments after a year's growth in late August 2000 (low: 45.76 mm, 1.15 mm/mo; high: 45.31 mm, 1.11 mm/mo). Similarly, no significant difference in annual survival rates between stocking densities occurred (low: 42.89%; high: 40.25%). The present findings indicate that this method of growing arks to market size has potential to contribute to future endeavors to develop an aquaculture fishery for the blood ark in the coastal waters of Georgia.