الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Mussels are one of the largest molluscan group, they live in marine and freshwater environments. They have great economic importance as they are considered one of the main sources of animal protein in many countries of the world and a lot of industries are based on it, as: pearl industry, buttons and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In addition, researchers use them as indicators of marine and freshwater pollution. Despite the lot off researches that have been dealt with marine bivalves (mussels), studies on freshwater mussels are very few when compared to those of marine ones. Therefore, the current study concentrated on some mussel species that inhabit the River Nile in Egypt. The present study aimed to identify the dominant mussel species in the studied area and the ecological factors affecting their abundance and distribution. In addition to that, determining the most common species and focusing on the main population parameters of this species: its reproductive cycle, gonadal growth, dispersal strategies, population dynamic (i.e. growth and survivorship curves) and the contribution of the different year classes within the population to its new |