Meretrix lamarchii is delicious seafood with high economic value. The present market of M. lamarchii was mainly from wild population due to the lack of large-scale artificial breeding. In 2013, we carried out the artificial seedling exploration of M. lamarchii. The current study utilized several statistical methods to analyze the effects of morphological traits on M. lamarchii, which may provide knowledge for clam quality seedlings breeding work. The samples of M. lamarchii were randomly collected from Donghai Island, Zhanjiang. Shell length(SL), shell width(SW), shell height(SH), ligament length(LiL), lunule length(LuL) and weight(W) of two-years old M. lamarchii were measured. A correlation coefficient matrix was constructed based on the results, in which the weight was set as the dependent variable and others as independent variables. Path coefficient and correlation index were calculated, and the major phenotypic characters were determined. The results showed that all the correlation coefficients between independent variables and dependent variable were significant (P<0.01) except the lunule length (P>0.05). The effects of the shell length, shell width, and shell height on the weight were significant (P<0.01), and the shell length had predominant impact on the weight as a key effective factor. The multiple regression equation between the weight and the other traits was established as YW=-126.784+1.249XSL+2.036XSW+0.911XSH, where YW is weight, XSL, XSW and XSH are the shell length, shell width and shell height, respectively. The current study may contribute to the artificial breeding of M. lamarchii.%从湛江东海岛斧文蛤野生群体随机取200个2龄个体，测量壳长(SL)、壳宽(SW)、壳高(SH)、韧带长(LiL)、小月面长(LuL)和体质量(W)6个性状，计算性状间的相关系数；以壳性状为自变量、体质量为依变量，采用通径分析方法计算壳性状对体质量的通径系数、决定系数，建立回归方程。结果显示，壳长、壳宽、壳高、韧带长与体质量极显著相关(P<0.01)，小月面长与体质量相关不显著(P>0.05)。壳长、壳宽、壳高对体质量的直接影响均达到极显著水平(P<0.01)，韧带长对体质量的直接影响较小，相关不显著(P>0.05)；壳长对体质量的直接效应和间接效应均最大，是影响体质量的最重要因素。采用逐步回归分析方法建立了形态性状对体质量的多元回归方程YW=-126.784+1.249XSL+2.036XSW+0.911XSH，为斧文蛤选种提供了理论依据和测度指标。
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