Chícharo, LuísTeodosio, Maria2013-02-262013-02-261995Chicharo, L. M. Z.; Chicharo, Maat. The DNA/RNA ratio as a useful indicator of the nutritional condition in juveniles of Ruditapes decussatus, Scientia Marina, 59, 95-101, 1995.0214-8358AUT: MCH00377;http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/2481Condition indices have been widely used to assess how healthy individuals are under certain circumstances. It has been shown that the RNA/DNA ratio is a good indicator of the nutritional condition of severa1 marine organisms. A very sensitive fluorometric method for RNA/DNA quantification (Clemmesen, 1990) was applied to fed and starved post-larvae laboratory-reared clam, Ruditapes decussatus. The presented study shows that the RNA/DNA ratio is a useful indicator of nutritional stress for bivalve spat. The decrease in RNA/DNA ratio recorded here, under starved conditions was lower than in similar experiments on fish. A lower metabolic rate in clams may result in a slower response with respect to RNA/DNA ratios than that observed in vertebrates.engBivalvesNutritional conditionRNADNA ratiosRuditapes decussatusRNA-DNA ratiosjournal article2013-02-19