Effect of Salinity-Changing Rates on Filtration Activity of Mussels from Two Sites within the Baltic <i>Mytilus</i> Hybrid Zone: The Brackish Great Belt (Denmark) and the Low Saline Central Baltic Sea

Abstract

Mussels from two sites within the Baltic mussel ( Mytilus edulis × M. trossulus ) hybrid zone were used in a comparative study on the effects of salinity-changing rates on filtration activity. The acute effect of varying salinity-changing rates was found to be similar in M. edulis from the brackish Great Belt and in M. trossulus from the low saline Central Baltic Sea, and the relationships could be described by linear regression lines through 0.0 indicating that the acute effect of deteri orating conditions at decreasing salinities is the opposite as for improving conditions when the salinity is subsequently increased. Further, both M. edulis and M. trossulus acclimatized to 20 psu reacted to an acute salinity change to 6.5 psu by immediately closing their valves whereupon the filtration rate gradually increased during the following days, but only M. trossulus had completely acclimatized to 6.5 psu within 5 days which may be explained by different genotypes of M. edulis and M. trossulus which probably reflect ed an evolutionary adaptation of the latter to survive in the stable low-salinity Baltic Sea.