Analisis Morfometrik Kepah (Meretrix meretrix) dan Perbedaannya pada Berbagai Dominansi Spesies Mangrove di Desa Bagan Asahan Kecamatan Tanjung Balai Kabupaten Asahan

Abstract

The waters around Bagan Asahan, Asahan Regency provide a lot of potential for marine products for North Sumatra, especially in Bagan Asahan City with marine products such as kepah. The population of kepah decreases every year accompanied by an increase in population. The increase in population causes the need for this kepah to increase. It is feared that the population in this area will decline in the future, therefore efforts to maintain the availability of the kepah population require an in-depth study of the distribution of kepah distribution based on the dominant type of mangrove species. The purpose of this study was to determine the dominance of mangroves to determine the number of research stations, to determine the distribution of the ribs on the dominant type of mangrove species, to determine the morphometric effect (length, width and thickness of the shell) of the mussels on the total weight of various dominant mangrove species and to determine the morphometric differences of the ribs in various species. dominance of mangrove species in Bagan Asahan Village. The determination of the research station was based on the dominance of mangrove species in Bagan Asahan Village. The method used in this research is a survey method. Sampling of the ribs was carried out three times at an interval of 30 days. The results showed that the mangrove vegetation in Bagan Asahan Village found 14 mangrove species, consisting of 11 core mangrove species and 3 associate mangrove species with the distribution of stations in analyzing the kepah morphometric as many as 3 stations, namely station 1 which dominated Scyphipora hydrophyllacea species, station 2 which dominated species Nypa fructicans and station 3 dominated by Avicennia alba species. The distribution pattern of M. meretrix at each station is classified as a group distribution. The three shell dimensions found in the Bagan Asahan mangrove ecosystem area, namely length, width, and thickness of the shell have a strong relationship where regression analysis of the three dimensions of the shell tends to affect the total weight. And in the relationship between kepah morphometrics in various mangrove species dominance in Bagan Asahan Village, there is a significant difference between kepah morphometrics at each mangrove dominance station.