Relative growth and reproductive cycle of the date mussel Lithophaga lithophaga (Linnaeus, 1758) sampled from the Bizerte Bay (Northern Tunisia)

Table 2 Relationships between biometric variables of Lithophaga lithophaga from the Bay of Bizerte (sexes separated)

Biometric variables	y = bx ^a/log y = a log x + log b		t	P	Type of growth
Biometric variables	Female (N = 469)	Male (N = 506)	t	P	Type of growth
W on L	y = 0.357x ^0.9476 r = 0.96	y = 0.2772 x ^1.0027 r = 0.97	13.789 F/0.682 M	<0.001F/n. s. M	−/=
H on L	y = 0.2022x ^1.0568 r = 0.95	y = 0.1454x ^1.1281 r = 0.96	14.507 F/29.553 M	<0.001	+/+
S d. w. on L	log y = 2.403 log x − 3.734 r = 0.95	log y = 2.703 log x − 4.294 r = 0.96	15.876 F/8.384 M	<0.001	−/−
ST d.w. on L	log y = 2.452 log x − 4.476 r = 0.87	log y = 2.653 log x − 4.877 r = 0.91	8.606 F/6.407 M	<0.001	−/−
T w.w. on L	log y = 2.405 log x − 3.31 r = 0.94	log y = 2.622 log x − 3.749 r = 0.95	15.287 F/9.874 M	<0.001	−/−

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