Settlement of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lam., 1819) spats on rope collectors of raft system in the Eastern Black Sea. Spat collection is very important step in mussel culture. The research was conducted in Yomra Harbour in Trabzon Province. Synthetic and plant fiber ropes were hung to the circular carriage floating frame which has cage walkway on the outer part. The reaction of mussel spats towards these different ropes was determined. Results of the experiments have shown that raw

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... ial and the diameter of the ropes and the depths were statistically significant in order to collect spats (P<0.05). Number of spats was higher at the 2-3 m depth and the ropes manufactured from synthetic fibers with 1.5 cm diameter were more successful than the others. Intensity of the spats were 317.00±67.65 (per 10 cm of rope), as an average. The difference of larval densities on synthetic and plant fiber ropes were statistically significant according to results of the ANOVA (P<0.05).