Abstract:

The ingestion,oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion of Kidderia subquadratum have been studied under the experimental conditions in the Great Wall Station of Antarctica during the austral summer of 1993-1994.The study of the grazing rate was conducted using chlorophyll pigment analysis of gut content. With the increasing body size and weight,the rates of grazing and oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion increased per individual. But the rates decreased per unit weight. On the average,the bivalve grazed chlorophyll 19.700 μg·ind. -1 ·d -1 and consumed oxygen 9.407 μg·ind. -1 ·d -1 and produced ammonia 0.489 μg·ind. -1 ·d -1 . The O/N ratio was between 9.8～16.3,which indicated the protein was the main metabolic substrate used by K.subquadratrum.