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Columbia Encyclopedia entry: mussel
Mussel, edible freshwater or marine bivalve mollusk. Mussels are able to move slowly by means of the muscular foot. They feed and breathe by filtering water through extensible tubes called siphons; a large mussel filters 10 gal (38 liters) of water per day. The close-fitting shells protect the mussel from desiccation and enable it to live high up on the shore. Most marine mussels belong to the single family, Mytilidae. They are widespread and are especially abundant in cooler seas. They form extensive, crowded beds, anchoring themselves by the byssus, a secretion of strong threads. The blue mussel grows up to 3 in. (7.6 cm) and is common along the Atlantic coast; the smaller hooked mussel has a more southerly range. The horse mussel, found in deeper waters, grows to 6 in. (15 cm) in length. Freshwater mussels are chiefly of two kinds: the large, dark-shelled burrowing mussels, a source of pearls and of mother-of-pearl; and the tiny fingernail clams found on the bottoms of clear pools and brooks. The zebra mussel, Dreissen polymorpha, is a small freshwater mussel native to Europe that was introduced in the 1980s into the Great Lakes. Lacking natural predators, it has proliferated and spread, clogging intake pipes at water and power facilities and disrupting native ecosystems. The quagga mussel, Dreissena rostriformis bugensis, also native to Europe, was first found in the Great Lakes in 1989 and has largely supplanted the zebra mussel there. Quagga populations are also found in the Colorado River basin and in aqueducts, canals, and reservoirs connected to the river. Freshwater mussels (family Unionidae), sometimes called clams, pass through a parasitic larval state, living on the fins, gills, and bodies of fishes. The familiar jingle shells, delicate, shiny orange or yellow shells common on beaches, belong to the same order as the marine mussel. Mussels are classified in the phylum Mollusca, class Pelecypoda or Bivalvia, order Filibranchia.

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Wikipedia search results for: Mussel
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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 to a firm substrate. A few species have colonized hydrothermal vents associated with deep ocean ridges. In most marine mussels the shell is longer than it...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: mussel
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  • bivalve

    Bivalve, aquatic mollusk of the class Pelecypoda (hatchet-foot) or Bivalvia, with a laterally compressed body and a shell consisting of two valves, or movable pieces, hinged by an elastic liga...

  • mother-of-pearl

    Mother-of-pearl or nacre, the iridescent substance that forms the lining of the shells of some fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks. Like the pearl it is a secretion of the mantle, compose...

  • pearl, gem

    Pearl, hard, rounded secretion formed inside the shell of certain mollusks, used as a gem. It is secreted by the epithelial cells of the mantle, a curtain of tissue between the shell and body ...

  • clam

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    Aquarium, name for any supervised exhibit of aquatic animals and plants. Aquariums are known to have been constructed in ancient Rome, Egypt, and Asia. Goldfish have been bred in China for sev...

  • hydrothermal vent

    Hydrothermal vent, crack along a rift or ridge in the deep ocean floor that spews out water heated to high temperatures by the magma under the earth's crust. Some vents are in areas of seafloo...

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    Crab, crustacean with an enlarged cephalothorax covered by a broad, flat shell called the carapace. Extending from the cephalothorax are the various appendages: five pairs of legs, the first p...

  • Mollusca

    Mollusca, taxonomic name for the one of the largest phyla of invertebrate animals (Arthropoda is the largest) comprising more than 50,000 living mollusk species and about 35,000 fossil species...

  • Sumerian and Babylonian art

    Sumerian and Babylonian art, works of art and architecture created by the Sumerian and Babylonian peoples of ancient Mesopotamia, civilizations which had an artistic tradition of remarkable an...

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