Baba et al 



An environmentally based growth model for juvenile Corbicu/a japonica 



23 



data were available because of low water temperatures dur- 

 ing the summer spawning season (Baba et al., 1999). This 

 means that a long life span is essential to sustain popula- 

 tions of C. japonica in northern habitats. We think that a 

 long life span is the ultimate factor for the extremely slow 

 growth rate of C. japonica juveniles in Lake Abashiri. 



The growth response of C. japonica juveniles is much less 

 susceptible to environmental factors before the second win- 

 ter than after and is the proximate factor for an extremely 

 slow growth rate. Nuculoma tenuis, a detritus feeder, de- 

 velops its palp proboscides, its feeding apparatus, during 

 the prolonged phase of meiobenthic development (Harvey 

 and Gage, 1995). The change of growth susceptibility to en- 

 vironmental factors in young ages may suggest that some 

 functional morphological changes occur in C. japonica, also 

 a filter feeder. In our preliminary analyses, we could not 

 find a better model when we used different values of s max 

 in Equation 6 between ages instead of categorical variables 

 indicating ages. Therefore, we conclude that the difference 

 in growth rates between ages is not due to a difference in 

 potential maximum growth rate, at least in the range of the 

 shell length observed in our study. When our model is ap- 

 plied to a wider range of the shell lengths or other species, 

 it is best to examine the age dependence of s max . 



Acknowledgments 



We express our thanks to T Kato, Vice-Head of the River 

 Improvement Section in the Abashiri Local Office of the 

 Hokkaido Development Bureau, for providing environmen- 

 tal data on Lake Abashiri. We also thank the reviewers of 

 Fishery Bulletin for providing helpful suggestions on our 

 manuscript. 



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