The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) is a common seafood item on many restaurant menus. In the past mussels were collected from the wild for consumption, however most of the mussels consumed today are grown on farms in the ocean.
Blue mussel information:
- A filter feeder, which consumes microscopic organisms and detritus.
- Attach to objects (and each other) using strong byssal threads. These threads are sometimes called the mussel’s “beard”.
- Clumping allows the mussels protection from drilling predators such as moon snails and dogwinkles.
- The threads can be shed allowing a mussel to move around using its small foot.
- Mussels are grown around some salmon aquaculture sites in the Bay of Fundy to help remove organic waste from the water. This method of using one species waste to feed another is called Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture. This video from IMTA Canada shows mussels feeding www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYsRI00GTFM&feature=plcp&context=C31646a6UDOEgsToPDskI07_5_FHE4eXGI0m5QZP-q.
For information on mussels and other animals in our area, check out the Intertidal Zone Field Guide and the Introduction to Classification on our website www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/resources1.html.
Mussel clump.
Mussel with a drill hole from a predator.
