Correlation analysis of morphological traits and body mass traits of Coelomactra antiquata

To evaluate the effects of shell phenotypic traits on the  body mass of Coelomactra antiquata wild population, we measured eight traits including shell height (SH), shell length (SL), shell width (SW), anterior length (PL), posterior length (PL), shell mass (SM), visceral-mass mass (VM) and body mass (BM) from 178 individuals of C. antiquata. The shell traits (SH, SL, SW, AL, GL, SM) were used as independent variables and mass traits (BM, VM) as dependent variables for path coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The results show that the maximal coefficient of variance was in visceral-mass mass, with very significant difference in correction coefficients among the eight quantitative traits of C. antiquata (P<0.01), and the correlation coefficients between body mass and visceral-mass mass and that of shell height and shell mass were the highest, with values of 0.831 and 0.646, respectively. Shell width and shell mass had the greatest direct influence on body mass and visceral-mass mass, and the path coefficients were 0.362 and 0.487, respectively, and the degree of determination analysis was consistent with the path analysis results. The optimal multiple regression equations of shell traits on mass traits were established through stepwise multiple regression analysis (R²<0.85).