The Influence of Aquaculture and a Natural Environmental Gradient on Shell Landmark Variation of the Mediterranean Mussel ( <i>Mytilus galloprovincialis</i> Lamarck, 1819) From the Eastern Adriatic Sea

Geometric morphometry is effective in distinguishing bivalve species and populations, including the economically and environmentally important Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. Although widely distributed, shell shape variation in M. galloprovincialis along the eastern Adriatic Sea has been infrequently studied. Farming practices and environmental conditions may affect the development of shell shape, as has been reported in the Mytilus genus from numerous locations globally. Building on earlier genetic analyses of mussels collected along a natural environmental gradient, this study aimed to identify shell landmark differentiation between wild and cultured populations and among northern, middle, and southern populations of the eastern Adriatic Sea using a geometric morphometric approach. Samples from 12 sites in Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania, including 4 aquaculture farms, were examined for variation in 9 internal shell landmarks. Wild populations exhibited a more extended posterior adductor muscle scar and a more elongated shape compared to farmed populations. Mussels from low salinity environments in the north and south exhibited an elongated shell shape compared to high salinity environments. Southern populations exhibited an extended posterior adductor muscle scar, along with an elongation of the lateral ligament and ventral umbo orientation that caused a concave shape of the ventral shell border compared to northern populations. The differences in environmental conditions in the Adriatic Sea, such as reduced salinity in Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro) in the south and Limski Bay (Croatia) in the north, likely play a role in influencing the variability of shell landmarks. These results may be applied to farming practices so that high-quality spat are collected from source sites with environmental conditions that match the farm site to which the spat are transferred. Overall, these results provide valuable insight into how M. galloprovincialis shell landmarks respond to environmental variation at large (hundreds of kilometres) spatial scale.