Abstract

Gonadal developmint, age and growth of Ruditapes philippinarum were investigated using samples from the intertidal zone of Simpo on the coast of Kimje, Korea, which were collected onthly for one year from Februaty 1993 to January 1994.Ruditapes philippinarum is diecious in sex. The gonads are located between the subregion of the midintestinal glands and reticular connective tissue of the foot. The ovary is composed of a number of ovarian sacs, and the testis is composed of numerous seminiferous tubules. The clam spawns once a year from early June to darly October, and the main spawning occurred between July and August when the water temperature went above 23<TEX>$^{\circ}C$</TEX>. Ripe oocytes are about 65-70<TEX>${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$</TEX> in diameter. Gonadal phases of this species can be divided into five successive stages; multiplicative(February to March), growing (April to May), mature(Aprilto Septimber), spent(June to October), and degenerative and resting(july to March). Spawning is closely related to the sea water temperature. Based on the monthly variations of marginal index (MI')of the shell, it was suggested that the annual ring mark formation occurred in March once a year and took approximately 8 months (0.67 year) for first ring to be formed on the shell. The relationship between the shell length(SL) and the total weight (TW) was represented by nonlinear equation; TW=1.208 x 10/ sup -4/ S <TEX>$L^{3.158}$</TEX>, and also in the relationship be-tweenthe shell length (SL) and the shell height(SH), the shell length and the shell width (SW) were represented by the linear equations; SH=0.726 SL-0.483, SW=0.542 SL-0.803.Growth curves for shell length and total weight fitted to von Bertalanffs equation were expressed as: S <TEX>$L_{t}$</TEX> =68.34(1- <TEX>$e^{0.221}$</TEX>(t+0.418)) T <TEX>$W_{t}$</TEX> =75.16(1- <TEX>$e^{0.221}$</TEX>(t=0.418))<TEX>$^{3.158/3.158}$</TEX>