Scientia Marina 76(1) March 2012, 67-78, Barcelona (Spain) ISSN: 0214-8358 doi: 10.3989/scimar.03313.21B Growth of the purple dye murex, Bolinus brandaris (Gastropoda: Muricidae), marked and released in a semi-intensive fish culture earthen pond PAULO VASCONCELOS 1,2, ALEXANDRE M. PEREIRA 1, RITA CONSTANTINO 1, CARLOS M. BARROSO 2 and MIGUEL B. GASPAR 1 1 Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos (INRB, I.P.) / IPIMAR, Avenida 5 de Outubro s/n, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal. E-mail:
[email protected] 2 Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. SUMMARY: The present study reports the growth rate of the purple dye murex, Bolinus brandaris (Gastropoda: Mu- ricidae), estimated from mark-recapture experiments. A total of 1067 specimens (shell length = 43.4±8.1 mm, range = 14.6−78.4 mm) were marked with Dymo® tape tags and released in a semi-intensive fish culture earthen pond. After a period at liberty ranging from almost two months to around two years, 288 individuals were recaptured (shell length = 67.4±6.2 mm, range = 45.3−88.6 mm), which corresponded to a recapture rate of 27.0%. At recapture, only one specimen had lost the tag (tag loss rate <0.1%) and all remaining tags were intact and legible. Mean monthly growth rates were 0.9±1.0 mm in shell length, 0.4±0.5 mm in shell width and 0.7±0.7 g in total weight. Growth rates showed high inter-individual vari- ability and an evident decreasing trend with specimen size.