The Mediterranean mussel (''Mytilus galloprovincialis'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Mytilidae. It is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in many parts of the world, and also an object of

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 ...

Systematics

''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' is one of the three principal, closely related species in the '' Mytilus edulis'' complex of blue mussels, which collectively are widely distributed on the temperate to

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...

coasts of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and often are dominant inhabitants on hard substrates of the intertidal and nearshore habitats. ''M. galloprovincialis'' will often hybridize with its sister taxa, the closely related '' Mytilus edulis'' and '' Mytilus trossulus'', when they are found in the same locality. ''M. galloprovincialis'' is considered the most warm-water-tolerant species of the three, and has the most southerly distribution in Europe and North America.

Right and left valve of the same specimen: File:Mytilus galloprovincialis 0001.jpg, Right valve File:Mytilus galloprovincialis 0002.jpg, Left valve

Distribution

In Europe, ''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' is found in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

, and on the Atlantic coasts, in Portugal, north to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

and Norway. Recently this species has also been found in the European Arctic including northern Norway and Svalbard. In the northern Pacific the species is found along the coast of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it was introduced from Europe by human activity in the early 20th century, and also in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

region of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, where it has been subject to aquaculture. It is also present as an invasive species on the Asian coast throughout

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, including

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, as well as in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

and around

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

in Russia. ''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' is also present as a native lineage in parts of the Southern Hemisphere. In addition there are populations introduced from the north recently with human activity. These lineages are distinguished by genetic characters. No original ''Mytilus'' populations lived in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

, but the Mediterranean mussel was introduced from Europe in 1984 and is now the dominant low intertidal mussel on the West Coast. The distribution spans an area from the

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n border to

Port Alfred A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

, intertidally to just below the low tide border. ''M. galloprovincialis'' is also found in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and South America.

Description

This animal grows up to 140 mm in length. It is a smooth-shelled mussel with a slightly broader base than that of the black mussel ('' Choromytilus meridionalis''), with which it is often confused in South Africa. Its shell is blue-violet''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' (mollusc)
Global Invasive Species Database. issg.org or black, but may shade to light brown.

Ecology

The Mediterranean mussel is a filter feeder. It is rare subtidally, which is an alternate means of distinguishing it from the black mussel in South Africa. Mussels are generally considered as a bioindicators of the whole ecosystem in which they live. The immune system of bivalve molluscs is often chosen as a target parameter to evaluate the welfare of the species and of their surrounding environment. In the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

, ''

Chamelea gallina ''Chamelea gallina'' is a species of small saltwater clam, a marine bivalve in the family Veneridae, the venus clams. Taxonomy Carl Linnaeus originally described ''Venus gallina'' from the Mediterranean Sea in 1758. It was not clear whether d ...

'' and ''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' share similar variations of the cytotoxic activity during the year. The exertions by the

hemolymph Hemolymph, or haemolymph, is a fluid, analogous to the blood in vertebrates, that circulates in the interior of the arthropod (invertebrate) body, remaining in direct contact with the animal's tissues. It is composed of a fluid plasma in which ...

of the species are considered a useful biomarker of the immune activity and therefore of the health of mussels. (at p. 50 and in the abstract). The immune systems of the clam ''

'' and the mussel ''

Mytilus galloprovincialis The Mediterranean mussel (''Mytilus galloprovincialis'') is a species of bivalve, a marine mollusc in the family Mytilidae. It is an invasive species in many parts of the world, and also an object of aquaculture. Systematics ''Mytilus galloprov ...

'' are influenced by changing environmental parameters such as water

acidification Acidification may refer to: * Ocean acidification, decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans * Freshwater acidification, atmospheric depositions and soil leaching of SOx and NOx * Soil acidification, buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the ...

, temperature increases and variations in seawater

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

. Those properties describe a typical scenario of the

global climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and bivalve molluscs are considered predictors of its future impact on the health status of both wild and farmed organisms.

References

External links

.issg.org/database/species/references.asp?si=102&fr=1&sts=&lang=EN ''Mytilus galloprovincialis''
Selection of references. www.issg.org
''Mytilus galloprovincialis'' (Lamarck, 1819)
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture, Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme
Picture of a British specimen
habitas.org {{Taxonbar, from=Q943341 Mytilus (bivalve) Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Marine molluscs of Africa Marine molluscs of Europe Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Molluscs of the Black Sea Commercial molluscs Fauna of Turkey Bivalves described in 1819 Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck