Biological aspects of green mussels Perna viridis cultivated on raft culture in Pasaran coastal waters, Indonesia

The green mussel (Perna viridis) is widely distributed in Indonesia. In Lampung province, the P. viridis is cultivated on floating raft system surrounding the coastal water of Pasaran Island. P. viridis meat is one of the cheap and important protein sources from marine resources. However, information on the cultivation and some biological aspects of P. viridis from Pasaran Island has not reported yet, even though this commodity has been cultivated since 2012. This study aims the monitoring of the growth performance, body condition index (BCI) and gonadal profiles of the P. viridis cultivated from Pasaran Island. Differentiation of male and female specimens is quite simple, by only observing the color of mussel meat directly. Females are reddish while males are gray to brown. The traditional fisherman used to harvest the mussels after 6-8 months cultivation. The growth rate of males and females did not showed significant difference but BCI values. The differences among ages affected the total weight, BCI, meat weight, shell length, thickness, width, and weight ratio. Shell length and weighing of males is 55.7 mm and 10.38 g respectively, at the age of 6 months, while in females 57.3 mm and 9.82 g respectively. The female BCI value is double comparing to males, after six months of cultivation (1.63 and 0.84). Gonads begin to be found at the age of 3 months with gonadal maturity starting at the age of 4-6 months.