News tagged with mussel
Fighting ecological invaders efficiently
Siemens is using a special water-treatment technique to make ship traffic more environmentally friendly. By disinfecting the ballast water in ships, a system named Sicure protects marine environments from ...
May 11, 2012 |
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Scientists discover way to detect low-level exposure to seafood toxin in marine animals
(Phys.org) -- NOAA scientists and their colleagues have discovered a biological marker in the blood of laboratory zebrafish and marine mammals that shows when they have been repeatedly exposed to low levels of domoic acid, ...
May 03, 2012 |
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Biocompatible, waterproof, self-healing, and reversible: A new adhesive for medical applications?
(Phys.org) -- Mussels are true masters of adhesion. They bond solidly under water to nearly any type of surface. Researchers from Mainz have been inspired by mussel adhesive proteins to add another exciting ...
Apr 13, 2012 |
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Researchers report potential for a 'moderate' New England 'red tide' in 2012
New England is expected to experience a "moderate" regional "red tide" this spring and summer, report NOAA-funded scientists working in the Gulf of Maine to study the toxic algae that causes the bloom. The algae in the water ...
Apr 05, 2012 |
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Scientists developing poison pill for Asian carp
Biologist Jon Amberg has spent the last two years obsessed with fish guts, laboring over a singular challenge: Develop a poison pill that will kill Asian carp and leave other fish unscathed.
Apr 03, 2012 |
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Threats to freshwater mussels and the consequences for ecosystems
At the University of Oklahoma's Aquatic Research Facility in Norman, zoologist Caryn Vaughn shows off freshwater mussels that she's recently collected from rivers in the southeastern part of the state. One river alone may ...
Mar 13, 2012 |
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Smithsonian NEMESIS tracks marine invaders online
Mitten crabs, zebra mussels and rock vomit: These and hundreds of other non-native species have invaded coastal regions throughout the United States, often causing dramatic changes to coastal ecosystems and ...
Mar 12, 2012 |
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Coalition releases study on cutting off Asian carp from Lake Michigan
Asian carp should be permanently cut off from Lake Michigan by sheet pile or impermeable land bridges, effectively re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River, according to a study set to be released Tuesday by a coalition ...
Feb 02, 2012 |
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Marine biodiversity loss due to warming and predation: study
The biodiversity loss caused by climate change will result from a combination of rising temperatures and predation – and may be more severe than currently predicted, according to a study by University of British Columbia ...
Nov 28, 2011 |
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Chemical-munching mussels contaminating Great Lakes
Zebra mussels from the Caspian Sea, introduced to North America by accident, are becoming a veritable plague releasing toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes, Canadian biologists say.
Oct 01, 2011 |
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Research into molluscan phylogeny reveals deep animal relationship of snails and mussels
Snails, mussels, squids – as different as they may look, they do have something in common: they all belong to the phylum Mollusca, also called molluscs. An international team of researchers headed by Kev ...
Sep 21, 2011 |
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Are all alien encounters bad?
The pages of ecological history are filled with woeful tales of destruction from non-native species -- organisms that originated elsewhere.
Aug 30, 2011 |
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Warming of the Mediterranean Sea hampers the resistance of corals and mollusks to ocean acidification
Some calcifiers (mussels, gastropods and corals) protect their shell or skeleton from the corrosive effects of increasing ocean acidification. They can therefore resist some of the damaging effects of increasing ...
Aug 29, 2011 |
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Researchers discover freshwater mussel species thought to be extinct
Researchers from the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources have discovered fresh remains of a freshwater mussel species thought to be extinct in Texas, according to a research associate with the ...
Aug 15, 2011 |
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Plant remains link farming to landscape damage in Peru
A study of food remains from ancient settlement sites along the lower Ica valley in Peru, confirms earlier suggestions that farming undermined the natural vegetation so badly that eventually much of the area ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 15, 2011 |
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Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.
The word "mussel" is most frequently used to mean the edible bivalves of the marine family Mytilidae, most of which live on exposed shores in the intertidal zone, attached by means of their strong byssal threads ("beard") to a firm substrate. A few species (in the genus Bathymodiolus) have colonised hydrothermal vents associated with deep ocean ridges.
In most marine mussels the shell is longer than it is wide, being wedge-shaped or asymmetrical. The external colour of the shell is often dark blue, blackish, or brown, while the interior is silvery and somewhat nacreous.
The word "mussel" is also used for many freshwater bivalves, including the freshwater pearl mussels. Freshwater mussel species inhabit lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, canals, grouped in a different subclass, despite some very superficial similarities in appearance.
Freshwater Zebra mussels and their relatives in the family Dreissenidae are not related to previously mentioned groups, even though they resemble many Mytilus species in shape, and live attached to rocks and other hard surfaces in a similar manner, using a byssus. They are classified with the Heterodonta, the taxonomic group which includes most of the bivalves commonly referred to as "clams".
For more information about Mussel, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
