Mussels

Kingdom: Animalia Phylus: Mollusca Class: Bivalvia In bivalves, the mantle fold encloses the visceral mass, head, and foot. The shell consists of left and right calcified valves, an uncalcified hinge, and elastic ligaments joining the two valves dorsally. Mussels are generally found in the mid to low intertidal zones. Adaptations A behavioural adaptation is that mussels (and barnacles) prevent water loss (which leads to desiccation at low tide) by closing their shell at low tide. Another way is how marine mussels are usually found clumping together on wavewashed rocks, each attached to the rock by its byssus. The clumping habit helps hold the mussels firm against the force of the waves. At low tide mussels in the middle of a clump will undergo less water loss because of water capture by the other mussels A physiological adaptation is how mussels feed. Bivalves are filter feeders that siphon and filter water. Bivalves feed by passing water through a pair of gills. Gills not only extract oxygen from the water but also filter out tiny food particles. The shells open slightly and tiny hairs, or cilia, beat rhythmically to draw in water carrying tiny particles of food. Mussels are sedentary and remain attached to their substrate using their byssal threads. This is a structural adaptation. These threads are produced in liquid form by the byssal gland. The liquid runs down a groove formed by the foot. When the foot pulls back, exposing the liquid to sea water, the liquid solidifies into a thread. A large mussel moves by breaking old threads, then attaching new ones to another spot; a small mussel creeps around on its foot. This forms extremely tough, strong, elastic, byssus threads that secure the mussel to its substrate. Both marine and freshwater mussels are gonochoristic, with separate male and female individuals. In marine mussels, fertilization occurs outside the body, with a larval stage that drifts for three weeks to six months, before settling on a hard surface as a young mussel. There, it is capable of moving slowly by means of attaching and detaching byssal threads to attain a better life position. Glochidia are generally species-specific, and will only live if they find the correct fish host. Once the larval mussels attach to the fish, the fish body reacts to cover them with cells forming a cyst, where the glochidia remain for two to five weeks (depending on temperature). They grow, break free from the host, and drop to the bottom of the water to begin an independent life. During the warmer months, some filter-feeding animals incidentally filter in biotoxins produced by certain kinds of phytoplankton, making them poisonous to humans and to other marine animals. In regions where this occurs, seasonal quarantines prevent humans from consuming mussels and other filter-feeding shellfish that may contain these toxins. Relationships Mussels are filter feeders and feed on plankton and other microscopic sea creatures that float through the water. This means mussels need to be submerged to feed. Turbidity can be a problem however: (1) light levels, which in turn causes reduced submerged aquatic grasses through shading and decreased primary production, (2) affects feeding behaviors of organisms,

(3) gill efficiency, which causes clogging, and (4) reproduction and larval growth and survival. High turbidity can affect clam, mussel and oyster feeding causing these filter-feeders to shut down and clam-up. In addition to the above effects, turbidity can affect an organisms immunological, physiological and histopathological systems, increasing disease. Predators include humans, starfish, seabirds, and several species of predatory marine gastropods, such as dog whelk. The byssus thread is also sometimes used by mussels as a defensive measure, to tether predatory molluscs, such as dog whelks, that invade mussel beds, immobilising them and thus starving them to death. Forms extensive mussel beds, providing that the sea star Pisaster ochraceus is not too abundant and wave shock is not strong. Scores and even hundreds of invertebrate species live on and among the mussels, which function analogously to trees in a rain forest. Mussels provide a substratum upon which to live, but they also provide a wet microclimate and even food for species that live in the interstices of the mussel bed. In this picture, you can see the barnacles attached to the mussels, but many polychaetes live among the byssal threads, and several species of the carnivorous genus Nucella prey upon barnacles and smaller mussels. Where waves pound the rocks, mussels out-compete other animals and plants for space. But mussels can't take over completelyother predators, such as lobsters, crabs and sea stars eat them in areas where waves dont pound as hard. Algae, barnacles and others use the cleared living space. PREDATOR: Starfish Ochre stars cling to middle intertidal and subtidal rocks in coasts exposed to heavy surf from Alaska to northern Baja California, Mexico. Ochre stars are yellow, orange, tan, brown or purple with an aboral surface patterned with numerous small, white spines.Ochre stars commonly hunt for mussels but will eat barnacles and gastropod molluscs if mussels are absent. Occasionally, sea otters or gulls prey on ochre stars. Sea stars commonly occupy the middle to low intertidal zones.