Mytilidae – Sea Mussels

Description

Pear-shaped, these bivalves typically attach to the surfaces of surf-beaten rocks. A strong byssus near the hinge fastens the mussel to rock, where the surf brings ample oxygen and food. However numerous genera have adapted to other habitats, including sand burrows. Many genera in this family have continued down from the Paleozoic era essentially unchanged. Two major groupings within this family are the Modiolus and Mytilis genera. Looked at on-edge, both genera are distinguished by a beak; near the hinge for Mytilis. The beak is somewhat distant from the hinge for Modiolus.
A principal food worldwide, mussels aggregate in large colonies. They are periodically rendered poisonous by the “red tide” dinoflagellates; i.e., microscopic one-celled protozoans that bloom during warm temperature regimes. The dinoflagellates are filtered out into the mussel’s gill cavities, by which people who later eat the mussel can be poisoned. The poison is not destroyed by cooking. Mussel colonies are usually preyed upon by starfish (an echinoderm, not a mollusk) and by Thais gastropods in the Murex family.

The genera, Pinna and Atrina typically attach to small stones with mutliple byssus threads, while Modiolus and Geukensia bury in peat or coarse sediments also using byssus threads

Classification

Class: Bivalvia

Subclass: Pteriomorpha

Order: Mytiloida

Superfamily: Mytilacea

Family: Mytilidae

 Major Genera

• Genus: Adula
• Genus: Aulacomya
• Genus: Amygdalum
• Genus: Brachidontes
• Genus: Crenella
• Genus: Geukensia
• Genus: Modiolus
• Genus: Musculus
• Genus: Mytella
• Genus: Perna
• Genus: Septifer

Adipicola arcuatilis Adipicola crypta Adipicola iwaotakii Adipicola osseocola Adipicola pacifica Adipicola pelagica Amygdalum anoxicolum Amygdalum peasei Amygdalum politum Amygdalum sagittatum Amygdalum soyoae Amygdalum striatum Amygdalum watsoni Arcuatula arcuatula Arcuatula capensis Arcuatula glaberrima Arcuatula papyria Arcuatula perfragilis Arcuatula senhousia Arenifodiens vagina Arvella japonica Arvella pectinula Aulacomya atra Bathymodiolus aduloides Bathymodiolus hirtus Bathymodiolus mauritanicus Bathymodiolus platifrons Bathymodiolus securiformis Bathymodiolus septemdierum Benthomodiolus lignocola Botula fusca Botula hawaiensis Brachidontes blakeanus Brachidontes crebristriatus Brachidontes erosus Brachidontes granulatus Brachidontes maritimus Brachidontes modiolus Brachidontes mutabilis Brachidontes pharaonis Brachidontes puniceus Brachidontes rodriguezii Brachidontes sculptus Brachidontes semilaevis Brachidontes virgiliae Choromytilus palliopunctatus Ciboticola lunata Crenella arenaria Crenella decussata Crenella divaricata Crenella pellucida Dacrydium abyssorum Dacrydium minimum Dacrydium ockelmanni Dacrydium pacificum Dacrydium vitreum Dacrydium wareni Geukensia demissa Geukensia granosissima Gibbomodiola adriatica Gregariella denticulata Gregariella difficilis Gregariella petagnae Gregariella semigranata Idas cristiani Idas emmae Idas filippoi Idas ghisottii Idas hiranoi Idas jaclinae Idas japonicus Idas modiolaeformis Idas simpsoni Ischadium recurvum Jolya arata Jolya elongata Jolya martorelli Jolya rhomboidea Leiosolenus spatiosus Limnoperna fortunei