The effect of sediment type upon the position and depth at which byssal attachment occurs in Mytilus edulis

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Abstract
The effect of changes in particle size and sediment depth on byssal attachment was assessed in laboratory experiments. Mytilus edulis did not attach byssus pads to mud or silt less than 0·85 mm in diameter, but did attach pads to gravel. On gravel more pads were attached to the substrate (mean = 19·44 threads/mussel/week) than to other mussels in the group (mean = 7·34 threads/mussel/week). Because no byssal attachment to the finer substrates occurred and preference for other mussels in the groups rather than the plastic of the holding tank was shown, clumps, characteristic of mussel beds in the field, were formed. The clumps became increasingly well defined as the depth of the substrate increased. Few clumps were formed on the coarsest substrate as a result of preferential byssal attachment to gravel particles.

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