Figure 5
Fitness parameters (survival, larval shell size and settlement success) assessed over the long-term experiment carried out with F1 Mytilus galloprovincialis 72 h-old D-larvae. (A) Survival percentages of post-thawed larvae for 22 days, cultured in 150-L tanks (n = 4 tanks per treatment). Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). (B) Shell growth of normal D-larvae throughout 22 days developed from cryopreserved (blue) or control (black) 72 h-old D-larvae (n = 35 per replicate). Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). (C) Percentage of settled larvae developed from cryopreserved (blue) and control (black) larvae cultured in 50 cm3 settlement drums (150-µm mesh) (10,000 larvae/drum, n = 8 drums per treatment). Percentage settlement expressed as the proportion of juveniles obtained from the sub-sample of competent larvae studied in each treatment. Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). (D) Box plots for the distribution of shell sizes in microns (µm) of settled larvae. The line inside the box represents the median value and box ends correspond to upper and lower quartiles. Upper and lower whiskers represent values outside the middle 50% quantile. Asterisk shows significant differences. p-value of ANOVA-one way test, significance was considered at p < 0.05.
