AGR3MCA - Applied Mollusc & Crustacean Aquaculture - Science Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Introduction  
The aim of this practical session is to analyse a number of blue mussels, Mytilus  galloprovincialis (formerly Mytilus edulis) from Victoria and green-lipped mussels,  Perna canaliculus from New Zealand (if applicable), which will have been sourced from  a seafood retailer. There are a number of goals to target during the completion of this  practical session; these are crucial, because 20% of the marks available for the subject  will be allocated for the write-up of the practical journal, which stems from this particular practical investigation.  
Mussel morphometrics (external)  
One of the key aims of this practical session is to analyse the blue and green-lipped  mussels that have been provided, which will be quite time consuming, but it is something  that can be done with some persistence and, of course, taking extreme care to uphold the  principles of occupational health and safety. For each mussel, you will need to measure  and record total length of the shell (given by the longest straight-line distance from the  base of the shell to the furthest point of the outer margin), total width of the shell, and  total mass of the animal. These should all be done for each mussel before you start  dissecting the mussels and undertaking the rest of the investigation.  
Anatomical features of bivalve gastropods  
Bivalve gastropods can be quite a tricky animal to analyse from the anatomical point of  view. They have organs and systems that can be foreign to us, and can be in a form that is  quite unfamiliar and unusual, and even somewhat alien!  
When you have dissected some good, representative mussels cleanly, you will need to  work out exactly what you are looking at. Use a variety of Internet and textbook sources  where applicable to assist you in this. For posterity, take a number of photographs, and  even video footage where applicable, to help you in identifying the various components  of the mussel’s internal anatomy. One important component of the practical journal  write-up involves the placement of a labelled photograph of one of the mussels, with the  various components clearly labelled.  
For this section of the practical investigation, you may wish to utilize a small number of  mussels, (eg. between two and four) to get this component completed satisfactorily. 
Mussel morphometrics (internal)  
A key component of the investigation is to determine what the various masses are of the  mussel tissue within the shell, and the mass of the shell itself. The mussel itself and the  shell will therefore need to be separated and all applicable data recorded.  
Sex determination and GSIs  
Try and determine the sex of each of the mussels, remembering that ovaries tend to be an  orangey colour, while testes tend to be an off-white colour. You may find that some  mussels might be difficult to sex; make sure that you record these appropriately and as  required, but be sure to slice the gonads open, take a sample, and use a microscope to try  and determine whether what you are looking at is male or female.  
Try and remove the gonads of the mussels if at all possible, and try and obtain gonad  mass so that gonadosomatic indexes (GSIs) can be determined. (Remember that a GSI is  simply the gonad mass divided by the somatic mass and multiplied by 100 to give a  percentage figure). You may find it quite difficult to differentiate the gonadal tissue from  the mantle tissue, so use due care here.  
Spreadsheets, data analysis and practical journal guidelines  
Once all mussels have been processed and analysed, the next step will be to enter the  results into a spreadsheet. This should ideally be set up during the practical session itself,  and will incorporate data from a previous year’s practical session as well.  
The write-up for the practical investigation should feature the following information (and  should not necessarily be restricted to it; please feel free to add other useful information  if you deem it advantageous):  
Use the data to determine what the average morphometric parameters were, as well as the minimum and maximum results.  
Plot what you deem to be some useful scatterplots of the data (such as length vs mass, length vs width, etc.) Be creative and think clearly about this aspect of your  report; ideally, you want to be able to analyse the data carefully and see which relationships produce clear trends, and which ones do not.  
Develop some size frequency distributions for the data. Use this information to make some comments on what you think that the mussel aquaculture company’s grading processes are like, using our mussels as a sample. Make sure that you elaborate and explain your comments fully in your practical journal/report. 

Make some comments based on the accuracy of sexing the mussels. You may decide to segregate the data on a male and female basis, and/or combine the data  to include both males and females. Please ensure that you accurately describe what you are doing in your report, and use figure captions and detailed  explanations wherever applicable, remembering that photographs, diagrams, figures and tables are crucial elements of this report. Utilise the photographs that  will be provided, and/or ones that you have taken, as you see fit.  
Try to find a software program that will allow you to overlay some descriptive  labels for the anatomy of the mussels that were analysed. If you are unable to do  this electronically, you may have to use a colour printer to produce the image, and  then use freehand labels, which can then be scanned in to your report.  
Utilise the data that is featured in the spreadsheet entitled “Mussel data from prac  sessions 2016 and 2017.xlsx,” which was based on analysis of blue mussels, and amalgamate this with your data. You should therefore have at least two  worksheets within your Excel file; one that includes your data only, and another  that includes the data from the 2016 and 2017 work and has been amalgamated.  
Make sure that you include contrasts and comparisons of blue mussels and green lipped mussels, paying particular attention to their average sizes and basic morphometrics.  
Please feel free to contact Andrew Christie if you have any queries or questions  about any of the information featured here, or would like any additional advice on what to include in the practical report.  

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