Researchers make strides in their quest to develop an underwater adhesive
In an important step toward creating a practical underwater glue, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have designed a synthetic material that combines the key functionalities of interfacial mussel foot...
View ArticleScientists satisfy our taste for blue mussels and Arctic surfclams
These tiny creatures are Arctic surfclams. They're getting packed up for a trip to the shore. With some help, they're about to take up residence in an intertidal mudflat on the Maine coast, or...
View ArticleThe status quo on Europe's mussels
Mussels are the natural treatment plants of bodies of water and, therefore, just as important as bees. Unfortunately, they are equally threatened: most of the world's mussel stocks are in decline and...
View ArticleEcologists test stability of Maine ecosystem over two decades
Working on a lobster boat in Swan's Island, Maine, typically means an early wake-up call. The boats head out around 5:30 in the morning.
View ArticleInvasive species not best conservation tool, study says
Harnessing an invasive fish species sounded like a promising conservation tool to help reverse the destruction wreaked by zebra mussels on endangered native mollusks in the Great Lakes - except that it...
View ArticleShellfish response to ocean acidification may vary depending on other stressors
A study of California mussels, a key species in the rocky intertidal ecosystems of the West Coast, indicates that the effects of ocean acidification will vary from place to place along the coast...
View ArticleScientists: Mussels, without noses, use smell to find homes
Mussels don't have noses, but two Maine scientists believe the dark shellfish rely on smells when choosing where to set up their homes.
View ArticleHouse measure supports shippers on ballast water dumping
A plan gaining support in Congress and backed by the cargo shipping industry would establish a nationwide policy for dumping ballast water into U.S. waterways that environmental groups say would open...
View ArticleModern mussel shells much thinner than 50 years ago
Shells of California mussels collected from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington in the 1970s are on average 32 percent thicker than modern specimens, according to a new study published by...
View ArticleFetal surgery stands to advance from new glues inspired by mussels
UC Berkeley engineer Phillip Messersmith is happy to be learning lessons from a lowly mollusk, with the expectation that the knowledge gained will enable him and fellow physicians to prevent deaths...
View ArticleAcid attack—can mussels hang on for much longer?
Scientists from The University of Washington have found evidence that ocean acidification caused by carbon emissions can prevent mussels attaching themselves to rocks and other substrates, making them...
View ArticleWhy are New England's wild blue mussels disappearing?
The Gulf of Maine coastline, historically home to one of the richest shellfish populations in the U.S., is undergoing a dramatic change, with once-flourishing wild blue mussels all but disappearing,...
View ArticleMussel flexing: Bivalve save drought-stricken marshes, research finds
As coastal ecosystems feel the heat of climate change worldwide, new research shows the humble mussel and marsh grass form an intimate interaction known as mutualism that benefits both partner species...
View ArticleThousands of mussels wash up on shores of Long Island
Thousands of dead mussels have washed up this week on the shores of Long Island.
View ArticleMussels disappearing from New England waters, scientists say
New England is running out of mussels.
View ArticleMalaysia's unique freshwater mussels in danger
Researchers in Malaysia revealed that Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Another species (Ensidens...
View ArticleUTA biologist to expand study of invasive zebra mussels in Texas lakes
A professor emeritus in biology from The University of Texas at Arlington who is an esteemed expert in freshwater and marine invertebrates is expanding his research into the spread of invasive zebra...
View ArticleResearcher leads worldwide effort to build largest-ever database monitoring...
In a promising step forward in the study of how climate change affects biodiversity, a group of 48 researchers led by Northeastern's Brian Helmuth, has created the largest-ever database recording...
View ArticleNew species of pea-size crab parasitizing a date mussel has a name of a Roman...
Tiny crabs, the size of a pea, dwell inside the mantles of various bivalves, living off the food filtered by their hosts. A new species of these curious crustaceans has recently been reported from the...
View ArticleOcean acidification study offers warnings for marine life, habitats
Acidification of the world's oceans could drive a cascading loss of biodiversity in some marine habitats, according to research published today in Nature Climate Change.
View ArticleMussel byssus threads produced by a combination of self-assembly processes...
The chemical industry can learn a lot from the common mussel. Not only are the mollusc's mother of pearl and tough threads with which it clings to the seafloor remarkable, but the way in which these...
View ArticleResearch decoding the first deep-sea mussel genome published
A joint research led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has assembled the 1.64 gigabytes genome of a deep-sea mussel, which is roughly...
View ArticleModeling invasive activity: Zebra mussels' infiltration of North American rivers
The invasion of nonnative species has widespread and detrimental effects on both local and global ecosystems. These intruders often spread and multiply prolifically, overtake and displace native...
View ArticleResearcher looks into declining Texas mussel populations
Jennifer Morton hovers methodically over a row of clear, water-filled containers on a tight-spaced industrial shelving system. She plucks a mollusk from one of the containers, observing the specimen as...
View ArticleInvasive gobies may change Oneida Lake's complexion—again
Oneida Lake, a kissing cousin to New York's Finger Lakes, may soon get an environmental makeover due to another in a series of invasive species bringing havoc to the body's ecosystem and disturbing its...
View ArticleChanging tides: Lake Michigan could best support lake trout and steelhead
Invasive mussels and less nutrients from tributaries have altered the Lake Michigan ecosystem, making it more conducive to the stocking of lake trout and steelhead than Chinook salmon, according to a...
View ArticleSlippery liquid surfaces confuse mussels
It all began with a bet at a conference in Italy in 2013. Nicolas Vogel, Ph.D., then a postdoctoral fellow in Joanna Aizenberg's lab at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at...
View ArticleCaged blue mussels as environmental detectives
Two researchers in a boat loaded with thousands of blue mussels, collected from a mussel farm in Lillesand. The boat heads out the Kristiansand fjord, and the researchers deploy the blue mussels in the...
View ArticleCleaning up aquatic pollution with mussels
Scientists and activists alike have been looking for a solution to the problem of aquatic nutrient pollution. Now one group reports in Environmental Science & Technology that ribbed mussels are up...
View ArticleRibbed mussels could help improve urban water quality
Ribbed mussels can remove nitrogen and other excess nutrients from an urban estuary and could help improve water quality in other urban and coastal locations, according to a study in New York City's...
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