Alejandro Tomas Hernandez-Munoz, Daniel Bernardo Lluch-Cota, Fabiola Arcos-Ortega and Carmen Rodriguez-Jaramillo
Northwestern Center for Biological Research, Mexico
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Aquac Res Development
Mexico has two geoduck clam species, Panopea generosa on western coast of Baja California Peninsula, and Panopea globosa, in which distribution goes from upper Gulf of California to Magdalena bay in the pacific. P. globosa is a dioic organism without sexual dimorphism. Reproductive season of P. globosa is different according to its distribution. In the upper Gulf of California begins in December and ends in March, while in central Gulf occurs from January to February, and in Magdalena bay is from March to April. The clams live buried in the sand from juvenile stage, although after sexual maturity is when geoduck live buried deeper to protect themselves from predators. For this reason, long-lived adults mostly compose the populations. Recently, a negative senescence process was reported for these species. This process is characterized by a decline in the mortality rate, a fertility increment and metabolic functionality with the increasing age. Knowledge of the relationship between those processes, as well as the physiological and transcriptomic analysis of the mechanisms that regulate the negative senescence of this species could allow better strategies for its fishery management. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the negative senescence as a reproductive strategy of P. globosa by morphometrical, histologicalâ??histochemical, biochemical and transcriptomical approaches.