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Alternate Title

Molluscs (Mollusca: Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Polyplacophora) of Laguna Madre, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Spatial and Temporal Distribution

Abstract

Molluscs were collected in Laguna Madre from seagrass beds, macroalgae, and bare substrates with a Renfro beam net and an otter trawl. The species list includes 96 species and 48 families. Six species are dominant (Bittiolum varium, Costoanachis semiplicata, Brachidontes exustus, Crassostrea virginica, Chione cancellata, and Mulinia lateralis) and 25 are commercially important (e.g., Strombus alatus, Busycoarctum coarctatum, Triplofusus giganteus, Anadara transversa, Noetia ponderosa, Brachidontes exustus, Crassostrea virginica, Argopecten irradians, Argopecten gibbus, Chione cancellata, Mercenaria campechiensis, and Rangia flexuosa). Seventeen species were found only in the northern region of the lagoon, 10 in the northern and southern regions, four only in Laguna de Catán, eight only in the south, and five were widely distributed, with the greater numbers of species and the greater density values recorded along ‘‘costa mar.’’ August and December revealed a similar number of species (50 and 53 respectively). Compared with 12 other lagoons along the Mexican Gulf of Mexico, the greater similarity in species composition was recorded for Términos, with 73 shared species, in response to the greater spatial heterogeneity and sampling intensity carried out in these two lagoons. Compared with Laguna Madre–Baffin Bay, Texas, this study recorded 70 more species than one study and 25 more species than another.

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