Blue Mussel

• It chemically detects the release of gametes by other mussels nearby.
• It forms dense beds anchored to the rocks by byssus threads.
• It can live up to 24 years in good conditions.
• Its byssus is an extraordinary and much-studied material: it sticks underwater, on wet, dirty surfaces, something no synthetic adhesive manages well. The key is a set of proteins carrying a modified amino acid, DOPA, which displaces water from the surface and forms strong bonds.
• That mechanism has inspired surgical adhesives and sealants for wet tissue.
• It forms beds that are habitats in themselves: dozens of species live among the shells, and the beds damp the waves and stabilise the sediment.
• It hybridises with the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, wherever the two meet, which greatly complicates the identification of populations and of farmed mussels.
• As a filter feeder it accumulates red-tide toxins and heavy metals, and it is the classic sentinel species of marine water quality monitoring programmes, the so-called Mussel Watch.
• It can detach from its byssus and relocate, so a mussel bed is a structure that slowly reorganises itself.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - external calcareous bivalve shell (mollusc)

Habitat & environment

Rocky intertidal zones of temperate and cold seas across the northern hemisphere, forming dense beds anchored by byssus threads

Birth weight

A tiny egg released into the water, developing into a ciliated trochophore larva

Size at birth

A ciliated trochophore larva after fertilisation, turning into a veliger larva over 1-1.5 months

Sexual maturity

1-2 years

Gestation / incubation

Roughly 1-1.5 months of planktonic larval development before it settles

Litter / clutch size

No precise figure for fecundity in this species

Sources consulted: ScienceDirect (Mytilus genus overview); SeaLifeBase; NOAA Fisheries; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Animal Diversity Web; genomics.senescence.info (lifespan bivalvia latitude study)