Mytilus edulis (common mussel)
Home Organisms Description Gallery
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Pelecypoda
Order: Mytiloida
Family: Mytilidae
A very common and easily recognisable bivalve mollusc M.edulis can be found in numbers around the Essex coastline. Individuals are generally sessile being held in place with byssal threads that are produced by a gland situated within the foot. The byssus issues as a thick fluid down a groove in the foot. The fluid spreads out in a disc shape then almost immediately hardens into a tough thread. This is repeated in many directions ensuring that whatever direction the water pull in there is a byssal thread in place to take the strain. If the threads are broken the individual can move around for a short time by means of it’s foot before reattaching itself. M.edulis, like the majority of bivalves, feeds on phytoplankton with this action being carried out by it’s enlarged gills that run the full length of it’s body. An inward current of water is created by tiny cilia and the water passes through the gill with the food being trapped by a layer of mucus. A further set of cilia then transport the food to the mouth. M.edulis can be found on sandy or muddy shores as well as those predominated by rock but only if there are stones or some other firm object to attach their byssal threads to. If due to sedimentation an individual starts to become buried then old threads can be cast off and new longer ones put into place.
(This will open in a new page.)