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MUSSELS
Mussels
from around the British Isles.
The small specimen is the abundant Common Mussel,
Mytilus
edulis, at 52 mm long. This species is found in beds of millions all
around the British Isles.
At Kingston beach,
Shoreham-by-Sea, the Common Mussels attain a length of 70 mm, (a largish
specimen measured 68 mm) but the above specimen at 52 mm is the normal
size near low water mark.
The large specimen is the Horse Mussel or Clabachdubh
(Black Mussel), Modiolus modiolus, at 142 mm long.
Mussels feed by drawing water into the shell, filtering
out the edible particles, and pumping the waste water out again through
a different opening. If you look closely at a mussel with its shells partly
open at the rounded end, you can see the two openings, one fringed to stop
large fragments being drawn in, the other an oval hole. You have to approach
carefully, or the mussels detect unusual water movement and shadows as
you approach, and close the shell in case you are a predator looking for
dinner!
by Jane Lilley
Dogwhelks, Nucella lapillus, feeding on a Mussel, Mytilis edulis
This crab, as its name suggests, has a shell the size of a pea. Or, at least the brown male Pea Crab has. This is the crab that can be seen swimming in estuaries over mussel beds. It the most active swimmer of all the British crabs.
The female is quite different. She is almost twice the size of the male
and usually yellow with a bright red blob on its soft shell. She is hardly
able to crawl and cannot swim.
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She does not need to because she spends her whole life inside in a live
mussel shell. The male fertilises her eggs by swimming inside the mussel
when it opens to feed.
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News 2008 |
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