title: Thermal tolerance of the invasive oyster Crassostrea gigas: feasibility of heat treatment as an antifouling option.
abstract: Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas are traditionally considered shellfish of great fishery and aquaculture value. For these reasons they are introduced worldwide. Recently there has been increasing reports about the prevalence of C. gigas as biofouling organism in cooling water systems. In the absence of relevant data on the susceptibility of oysters to commonly employed antifouling techniques such as heat treatment, it was presumed that oysters would be controlled by treatment programmes directed against other major fouling organisms. The present study was carried out to test the above hypothesis, and results showed that C. gigas has an upper temperature tolerance that is much higher than other major marine fouling animals including blue mussel Mytilus edulis. Apparently, temperature regimes presently used in heat treatment of cooling water systems fouled by mussels need to be increased, if C. gigas are to be controlled effectively. Our results also indicate that previous exposure of C. gigas to sublethal high temperatures could make them more resistant to subsequent thermal treatment, an aspect that should be taken into account when heat treatment is used as a fouling control option against oyster fouling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands. S.Rajagopal@science.ru.nl
authors.forename: Sanjeevi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajagopal
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van der Velde
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Marinus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Gaag
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Atsma
authors.forename: Joke P M
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Janssen-Mommen
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Polman
authors.forename: Henk A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Jenner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D049896:Crassostrea / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010571:Pest Control / Q000379:methods*; D011210:Power Plants