Measurements of time-averaged intensity of water motion with plaster balls

Water motion is a very important environment surrounding marine organisms. It is, however, difficult to measure currents with a propeller type of current meters in seagrass or seaweed beds in shallow waters. Therefore, we elaborate the measuring method of time-averaged intensity of water motion with plaster balls invented by Muus (1968) to set them at several depths at short vertical intervals in shallow waters. Theoretical examination is also made on the relation between speed of steady flow and dissolution rate of plaster balls by experiments in a circuit tank. These experiments revealed that the temporal rate of decrease in the 1/2 power of wet weight of plaster balls excluding a rod supporting the plaster ball was proportional to the speed of steady flow in the tank. On the basis of this relation, we propose the method for estimating the time-averaged intensity of water motion by converting the loss of wet weight of plaster ball to the speed of steady flow bringing equivalent loss. Since this method is simple and convenient, it can be applied to obtaining environmental indices of water motion not only in seagrass or seaweed forests, but also in fishing grounds culturingporphyra, yellow tail (Seriola quinqueradiata) or oysters.