The Chilean mussel
[''Mytilus chilensis'' (Hupé, 1854)]
Sealifebase.org or Chilean blue mussel
is a species of
blue mussel
The blue mussel (''Mytilus edulis''), also known as the common mussel, is a medium-sized edible marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc in the family (biology), family Mytilidae, the mussels. Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensiv ...
native to the coasts of
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
from BioBio region (37 ºS) to Cape Horn (55 ºS). Today genomic evidence confirmed that the native Chilean blue mussel is genetically distinct from the Northem Hemisfere ''M. edulis'', ''M. galloprovincialis'' and ''M. trossulus''
[ ] and also genetically different from ''Mytilus platensis",
[ ] the another species of smooth shelled mussel from Southamerica.
Right and left valve of the same specimen:
File:Mytilus chilensis 01.jpg, Right valve
File:Mytilus chilensis 02.jpg, Left valve
Aquaculture
''M. chilensis'' is under intensive
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
in Chile. From 2004 to 2008 the annual commercial harvest increased from 80,000 to 200,000 tonnes.
[Ríos, J. L. (2010]
Mussels - May 2010, Chile
Globefish.org. Following a decrease in 2009, the production was back at high level in 2010.
Globefish.org Over 45,000 tonnes of mussels were exported from Chile in 2008, 93% of them frozen. Some 74% of exports are to the EU, primarily Spain and France, and 15% to the United States.[
]
Systematics
Alcide d’Orbigny
Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropol ...
first described the species ''Mytilus platensis'' d'Orbigny, 1842,[''Mytilus chilensis'' Hupé, 1854]
www.marinespecies.org or the Integrated Taxonomic Information System [''Mytilus chilensis'' Hupé, 1854]
www.itis.gov recognise ''Mytilus chilensis'' as a valid taxon in the Mytilus genus and different from ''Mytilus platensis''.
''Mytilus chilensis'' is part of the worldwide ''Mytilus edulis'' complex of mussels, or blue mussels. Modern genetic studies based on single-nucleotide polymorphism
In genetics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in a sufficiently lar ...
(SNP) have demonstrated that the Chilean mussel is genetically different of both the Mediterranean mussel
The Mediterranean mussel (''Mytilus galloprovincialis'') is a species of bivalve, a marine (ocean), marine mollusc in the family (biology), family Mytilidae. It is an invasive species in many parts of the world, and also an object of aquaculture ...
(''Mytilus galloprovincialis'') and the North Atlantic ''Mytilus edulis
The blue mussel (''Mytilus edulis''), also known as the common mussel, is a medium-sized edible marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc in the family (biology), family Mytilidae, the mussels. Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensiv ...
''. Evidence collected until 2021 recognized several blue mussel species in South America, including native ''M. platensis'', introduced ''M. galloprovincialis'' from the Mediterranean, and possibly-introduced ''M. planulatus''.
/ref> Using nuclear DNA markers, Borsa et al. (2012) confirmed earlier results from allozymes
/ref> that most populations in the south of the South American continent indeed represent a native Southern Hemisphere lineage of the blue mussel, for which they suggested to use the subspecies name ''Mytilus edulis platensis''
/ref> (now ''M. platensis''). The same authors questioned the earlier identifications of the Montevideo mussel in Southern Chile as "''M. galloprovincialis''"[ now referred to as ''M. planulatus'' and ''M. platensis''. Moreover, ''M. platensis'' populations in southern Chile show slight ]introgression
Introgression, also known as introgressive hybridization, in genetics is the transfer of genetic material from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. Intr ...
from ''M. planulatus''.
See also
*List of marine molluscs of Chile
This list of marine molluscs of Chile is a partial list of marine (ocean), marine mollusc species which have been recorded in Chile. In other words, it is a list of Seawater, salt water species of snails, clams and other molluscs. The list does not ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q384733
Mytilus (bivalve)
Molluscs of South America
Molluscs of Chile
Fauna of the Falkland Islands
Bivalves described in 1842