LAUSR

Abstract Choosing an alternative species of mussel for the aquaculture industries, will be possible if it has equal or greater yield than the mussel cultivated. This study compares the growth of the chilean native mussel Mytilus chilensis with the non-native Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and evaluate if environmental variables and cultivation depth affects mussels growth. Mussel were seeded in summer, with the same mean total weight and shell length for both species. At the end of the experiment, shell length (SL), condition index and gonadosomatic index were compared over month, depth and species. Highly significant differences were found in shell length between month and depth and between month and species (p