RATE OF WATER PROPULSION IN MYTILUS CALIFORNIANUS AS A FUNCTION OF LATITUDE

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Abstract
Mytilus. californianus collected from three different latitudes along the Pacific coast of N. America were studied for differences in shell wt. and in the effect of temp. on the rate of water propulsion. The shell wt. relative to the wt. of the soft parts was shownto increase with the latitude. Of greater interest were the findings that the northern samples of Mytilus not only have a faster rate of pumping than southern ones at any given temp. but also have a markedly lowere Q10 and size dependence, enabling them incidentally to grow larger. Since the difference in Q10 values between smaller individuals of lower latitudes and larger individuals of higher latitudes is negligibly small, and since amongst the higher latitudinal animals the smallest are the first to be affected adversely by raising temp., it is suggested that the center of dispersal of spp. like M. californianus is in the lower latitudes. A comparison of relative degrees of compensation to temp. at different latitudes is made possible by a proposed temp. compensation coeff. Such a comparison and several other cases from earlier work suggest the principle that the relative compensation to change increases with increasing change.

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