ENvironmental DRIvers affecting fattening and calcification process of wild and farmed MUSsels in the Adriatic Sea (ENDRIMUS).

Mussels, belonging to the species Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamark, 1819, represent the most important species for the Italian shellfish production. In EU, Italy is the second largest producer of this species (coming only after Spain), and the first one in the Mediterranean Region. The production comes mostly from aquaculture in lagoons and open-sea and to a smaller extent, from wild populations in the central and northern Adriatic Sea (77% of Italian production). However, in the last few years, both farmed and wild mussels have shown issues in terms of meat reduction and increased shell fragility, which negatively affect their quality, and hence their market value. Since farming technics have not been substantially modified with time, and changes also affect the wild populations, these impacts are inevitably caused by environmental phenomena that have occurred in recent years. Seen as scientific data regarding how these changes impact product quality are lacking, the current information comes solely from producers. In this contest, the ENDRIMUS Project wants to pose attention on this phenomenon happening in the Adriatic Sea, identifying which environmental drivers can mainly affect the growth of mussels in this area. It has been established in literature that river discharges are the main source of nutrients and other inorganic elements, which are at the base of the trophic web in the Adriatic Sea. By employing an interdisciplinary team of experts in marine ecology and biology, environmental and analytical chemistry, and oceanography, ENDRIMUS will evaluate which environmental drivers mainly affect the growth and quality of farmed and wild mussel populations along a latitudinal gradient from North to South of the Italian Adriatic coast. For this purpose, physical and biochemical features, as well as biological variables of the water column will be investigated, along with phytoplankton community abundance and composition, which represent an important source of food for these filter feeding animals. Biological analysis on mussel content and an in-depth study on the shell features at the macro, micro and nanoscale level will be carried out on samples from farmed and wild mussels collected at different sites, to evaluate how this bivalve species is sensitive to variations in environmental conditions. ENDRIMUS points out the importance of considering multiple environmental parameters to investigate bivalve growth and allow for a proper management of bivalve aquaculture. Indeed, given the great socio-economic relevance of Mytilus galloprovincialis along the Italian Adriatic coasts, projects like this one are crucial to guarantee a knowledge-based management of this important resource. The results produced will be disseminated to international, national, and regional stakeholders and the scientific community, in order to provide useful information for future development in mussel farming.