British waters. Clams may be grown in submerged, mesh-bottom trays, then 

 transplanted to open bottoms after 1 to 1 1/2 years. They are often harvested 

 after 4 yrs , but may be held longer. What is needed to advance molluscan 

 aguaculture generally is attention from informed generalists, who can pull 

 together isolated bits of information from diverse sources and disciplines to 

 create a productive human enterprise. Because others in the Symposium were to 

 discuss work in Japan and the United States, this author chose to deal 

 primarily with Europe and the far east. - J.L.M. 



1953 



Webber, Harold H., and Pauline F. Riordan. 1969. 



Molluscan mariculture. Proc . Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst., 21st Ann. Sess.: 

 177-185. 



A general discussion of the subject, with no detailed treatment of any 

 species. - J.L.M. 



1954 



Weiner, Stephen, and Leroy Hood. 1975. 



Soluble protein of the organic matrix of mollusk shells: A potential template 

 for shell formation. Science 190(4218): 987-989. 



Much of the soluble protein of the organic matrix of Mercenaria mercenaria 

 shell, and that of Crassostrea and Nautilus , is made up of a repeating 

 sequence of aspartic acid separated by glycine or serine. In M. mercenaria, 

 amino acid composition of soluble fraction was 25.60 (mole %) aspartic acid 

 + asparagine, 11.06% serine, and 12.28% glycine, and 83.6% of the protein was 

 in the soluble fraction. Proportions of free amino acids released from the 

 aragonite shell of M. mercenaria after 48 hrs of hydrolysis with 0.25M acetic 

 acid at 108°C were: aspartic acid 65.0%, glycine 26.5%, and serine 18.3%. 

 The regularly spaced, negatively charged aspartic acid may function as a 

 template upon which mineralization occurs. - J.L.M. 



1955 



Weiner, S., H. A. Lowenstam, and L. Hood. 1977. 



Discrete molecular weight components of the organic matrices of mollusc shells. 

 J. Exper. Mar. Biol. Ecol . 30(1): 45-51. 



Six bivalve species, including Mercenaria mercenaria, 3 gastropods, and 1 

 cephalopod, were used. Protein and polysaccharide are the 2 major constituents 

 of the organic matrix of the shell. Numbers of components, relative migration 

 distances of soluble fractions in gel electrophoresis, and concentrations 

 varied greatly. Discrete molecular weight bands of the soluble fraction of 

 M. mercenaria, on amino-acid analysis, accounted for about 10% of total protein. 

 The remaining protein fraction was composed of very high molecular weight 

 components which did not enter the 5% polyacrylamide at the top, and lower 

 molecular weight components which entered the gel and formed a dense background 

 of nondiscrete molecular weight material. - J.L.M. 



1956 



Weisel, John W. 1975. 



Paramyosin segments: Molecular orientation and interactions in invertebrate 

 muscle thick filaments. J. Molec. Biol. 98(4): 675-681. 



If paramyosin from red or white adductor muscle of Mercenaria mercenaria is 

 digested with carboxypeptidase, chain weight is reduced by about 5,000 daltons. 

 Instead of predominantly PI paracrystals formed by untreated paramyosin, only 

 Dili paracrystals are formed. Compared to Dili paracrystals formed from 

 native Mercenaria paramyosin, the lightest bands, regions with the largest 

 number of overlapping molecules, here are reduced in length by 60 A at each end. 

 A 60 A reduction in molecular length agrees well with a 5,000 reduction in 

 molecular weight. These structures are dihedral, thus no conclusions could be 

 made about location of the C-terminus. The molecular arrangement in a Dill 



544 



