Ecology Summary - Mya arenaria

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Ecology of Mya arenaria

Main Ref.	Bernard, F.R., Y.Y. Cai and B. Morton, 1993
Remarks	Lives in burrows in sand, mud, sandy mud and sandy gravels from the mid shore to the shallow sublittoral, sometimes to a depth of 192 m (Ref. 78574). Commonly found in estuarine areas, buried in substrate 10 to 20 cm deep (Ref. 95344). In the Vainameri (north-eastern Baltic Sea), abundant in silty substrate (Ref. 95753). Deposit/filter feeders (Ref. 95728). Identified as an ecologically important benthic species of the Baltic Sea, mainly as part of the food base of fishes and its contribution to biofiltration and biosedimentation processes (Ref. 95774). A microvore that feeds on organic detritus (Ref. 96352). Found both in intertidal mudflat and estuary (Ref. 2823).

Main Ref.

Bernard, F.R., Y.Y. Cai and B. Morton, 1993

Remarks

Lives in burrows in sand, mud, sandy mud and sandy gravels from the mid shore to the shallow sublittoral, sometimes to a depth of 192 m (Ref. 78574). Commonly found in estuarine areas, buried in substrate 10 to 20 cm deep (Ref. 95344). In the Vainameri (north-eastern Baltic Sea), abundant in silty substrate (Ref. 95753). Deposit/filter feeders (Ref. 95728). Identified as an ecologically important benthic species of the Baltic Sea, mainly as part of the food base of fishes and its contribution to biofiltration and biosedimentation processes (Ref. 95774). A microvore that feeds on organic detritus (Ref. 96352). Found both in intertidal mudflat and estuary (Ref. 2823).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Mya arenaria may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic: endofauna (infauna); macrobenthos; Soft Bottom: sand; silt; mud;
Substrate Ref.	Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1998
Special habitats	Other habitats: burrows;
Special habitats Ref.	MacNeil, F.S., 1965

Associations

Ref.	Beal, B.F., R. Bayer, M.G. Kraus and S.R. Chapman, 1999
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	plants/detritus+animals (troph. 2.2-2.79)
Feeding type Ref.	Obolewski, K. and Z. Piesik, 2005
Feeding habit	filtering plankton
Feeding habit Ref.	Harvey-Clark, C., 1997

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	2.31	0.19			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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