• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.184-189
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• 2001

Surf clam, Mactra veneriformis, is a important shellfish produced in south-western coast of Korea. But it's ready to be contaminated and have sand in flesh because it mainly inhabit in silt at tHe inside of coastal area. We determined optimum conditions for the sand elimination and microbial depuration in the shellfish harvested from western coast of Korea. It was found that the most effective conditions of process water for the sand elimination were $23^{\circ}C$, $32.9-35.0\%_{\circ}$ salinity and pH $7.9\~9.0.\;A$ surf clam contained about 210 mg of sand whose $94\%$ was eliminated after 24 hours in natural sea water ($32.9\%_{\circ}$ , pH 7.9) controlled at $23^{\circ}C$. To eliminate both sand and microorganisms contaminated in surf clam, the process water should be run during at least 36 hours for the former and 24 hours for the latter at 150 L/minute/$m^3$of shellfish, when its volume was above 4,000 L/$m^3$ of shellfish in 2 tons of tank.