spatfall

English

Etymology

spat +‎ fall

Noun

spatfall (countable and uncountable, plural spatfalls)

1. The arrival of spat at the beach during spawning season for shellfish;
   • 1988, Tanittha Chongpeepien, Bivalve Mollusc Culture Research in Thailand, →ISBN, page 100:

     Based on these results, spatfall in Ban Laem would occur from July to September and again from December to February.

   • 2004, Sir Tom Blundell, Turning the Tide : Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment, →ISBN:

     For example, inter-tidal mussel beds in the Wadden Sea almost disappeared during the late 1980s due to a combination of exploitation and low spatfall.

   • 2008, Brian Spencer, Molluscan Shellfish Farming, →ISBN, page 18:

     Fluctuations in annual yields of our cockle, mussel and oyster fisheries are largely but not entirely due to good or poor spatfalls.

   • 2012, Issues in Life Sciences: Aquatic and Marine Life, →ISBN:

     For the long-term data set, spatfall events and the amount of spatfall increased markedly with strong offshore winds. On days with high tidal range, there tended to be an increase in the amount of spatfall, but this trend was not significant statistically.