''Mytilus'' is a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of medium to large-sized edible, mainly

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

mussels, marine bivalve molluscs in the

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

Mytilidae Mytilidae are a family of small to large marine and brackish-water bivalve molluscs in the order Mytilida. One of the genera, '' Limnoperna'', even inhabits freshwater environments. The order has only this one family which contains some 52 gener ...

Description

Mussels have a gray to blue-purple, fully grown shell about 5 - 10 centimeters long with an elongated oval shape. They follow the general blueprint of the mussels. They consist of a right and left half of the shell, which are held together with an elastic lock strap (ligament). The shell is made up of 3 layers: the top layer of organic material (periostracum), the middle thick layer of lime (ostracum) and the innermost, valuable, silver-white shiny mother-of-pearl layer (hypostracum). In the shell of the mussel there are two gills with gill leaves that are well supplied with blood. Between the gills is a muscular foot with the byssus gland. With the help of the protein contained in the mussel and iron filtered from the sea, this gland produces the byssus threads with which the mussel can hold on. Mussels have a sphincter, which is located in the soft tissue of the mussel, as well as other organs (heart, stomach, intestines, kidneys). With the help of the sphincter muscle, the mussel can close in danger or dryness.

Species

Species within the genus ''Mytilus'' include: * '' Mytilus californianus'' Conrad, 1837 - California mussel * ''

Mytilus coruscus ''Mytilus unguiculatus'', common name the Korean mussel or the hard-shelled mussel, is a species of mussel, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. This species is heavily exploited as a food item via mariculture in Korea and in ...

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, a ...

, 1861 = ''M. unguiculatus'' Valenciennes, 1858 * the ''Mytilus edulis'' complex: ** ''

Mytilus edulis The blue mussel (''Mytilus edulis''), also known as the common mussel, is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensive aquaculture. A species with a l ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1758 - blue mussel, edible blue 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 gall ...

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...

, 1819 - Mediterranean mussel ** '' Mytilus planulatus''

, 1826 - Australian blue mussel ** '' Mytilus platensis''

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 anthrop ...

, 1842 ** '' Mytilus chilensis'' Hupe, 1854 - Chilean blue mussel ** ''

Mytilus trossulus ''Mytilus trossulus'', the bay mussel or foolish mussel, is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. ''Mytilus trossulus'' is one of the three principal, closely related taxa in the ''Mytilus edulis'' complex of blue ...

, 1850 - foolish mussel Numerous fossil species are known, the oldest dating to the Triassic.

Feeding

Mussels are filter feeders. They have two openings. The water enters the mantle cavity through the inflow opening, in which a permanent flow of water is generated by the eyelashes. The tiny food particles (plant and animal plankton) stick to the mucous layer of the gills. Then the eyelash hairs convey the mucus in the gills with the food particles to the mouth of the mussel and from there to the stomach and intestines, where the food is ultimately digested. The indigestible residues are expelled from the outflow opening with the respiratory water.

Reproduction

Each spring and summer, the females lay five to ten million eggs, which are then fertilized by the males. The fertilized egg cells become trochophoral larvae, 99.9 percent of which are eaten in the course of their four-week development into young mussels. Nevertheless, after this "selection" there are still around 10,000 young mussels left. These are about three millimeters in size and often drift around several hundred kilometers in the sea before they are about five centimeters in size in coastal regions with their byssus threads. The reason mussels live in such large colonies (also called banks) is because it gives the males a much greater chance of fertilizing eggs. After the larvae have developed freely floating as plankton for about four weeks, they attach themselves to stones, stakes, shill, sand and other mussels with byssus threads. They prefer the

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

from estuaries and mud flats in the coastal regions.

Human use

''Mytilus'' mussels are widely exploited as food and used in mariculture. For instance, in California, they have been consumed by coastal Native American people for almost 12 000 years. Antimicrobial peptides called Mytilin A and B have been isolated from ''M. galloprovincialis'' and ''M. edulis''.

References

* J. H McDonald, R. Seed and R.K. Koehn (1991
Allozymes and morphometric characters of three species of ''Mytilus'' in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
''Marine Biology'' 111: 323-333. Bivalve genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Extant Jurassic first appearances {{Mytilidae-stub