Belgium flexes its new locally sourced mussels
It is a popular tradition to eat mussels in Brussels but what may surprise many is that none of the mollusks visitors enjoy are locally sourced in Belgium.
It is a popular tradition to eat mussels in Brussels but what may surprise many is that none of the mollusks visitors enjoy are locally sourced in Belgium.
Ecology
Jul 30, 2024
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An invasive species capable of wiping out entire aquatic ecosystems and causing millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure has been found for the first time in the Colorado River, the most important river in the American ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2024
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Burrowed into streambeds and rarely moving for their decades-long lifespans, freshwater mussels are biomonitors, meaning they indicate how clean their environment is, according to Penn State researchers. As the bivalves feed ...
Environment
May 31, 2024
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Michigan is home to 43 species of native freshwater mussels, 30 of which are considered to be at risk of extinction. Among the many factors that threaten the hard-shelled bottom dwellers are competition from invasive zebra ...
Plants & Animals
May 24, 2024
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Researchers at the American Museum of Natural History have found that over the last 120 years, the porosity—or small-scale holes—in mussel shells along the East Coast of the United States has increased, potentially due ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 17, 2024
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Seaports act as hubs for the global spread of MtrBTN2, a rare contagious cancer affecting mussels. In this disease, cancer cells can be transmitted, like parasites, from one mussel to another nearby.
Ecology
Feb 21, 2024
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Even embryos can become embroiled in an evolutionary arms race with another species. Leiden biologists demonstrate this with larvae of the rosy bitterling that parasitize the gills of freshwater mussels. They published their ...
Evolution
Feb 20, 2024
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New research by the University of Stirling's Institute of Aquaculture could help improve mussel farming practices and lead to increased production.
Ecology
Feb 12, 2024
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The restoration of mussel beds in the Wadden Sea or the Delta is a lot more successful when young mussels are helped a little with low, protective fences on the bottom.
Ecology
Feb 5, 2024
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1
Florida has long been home to an unnatural assortment of creatures from faraway lands and habitats, and these tourists turned permanent residents have wreaked havoc on the natural ecosystem.
Plants & Animals
Dec 29, 2023
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Pteriomorpha (marine mussels) Palaeoheterodonta (freshwater mussels) Heterodonta (zebra mussels)
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalve molluscs, 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 colonized 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 color 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, and similar habitats. These bivalves belong to several allied families, the largest family being the Unionidae. They are not closely related to saltwater mussels; they are taxonomically 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".
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA