Page and Ricard: Food availability and Mytilus edulis growth in California coastal waters 



679 



Growth rates of transplanted individuals were com- 

 pared with that of 40 resident individuals enclosed in 

 cages (2 cages of 20 individuals of ~30 mm shell length) 

 and submerged at the same time. 



Scope for growth 



Relevant physiological parameters, regulatory factors, 

 and relationships used in our analysis of SFG are given 



in Table 1. Environmental parameters required to 

 estimate SFG (water temperature, seston concentra- 

 tion, and %POM) were measured in this study, while 

 physiological relationships were derived from informa- 

 tion in the literature. 



Absorbed food was estimated from measurements of 

 mussel size, seston concentration, %POM, and from 

 published values for size-specific clearance rate, inges- 

 tion rate and absorption efficiency. Wlienever possible, 

 we used data on clearance and ingestion rates and 



