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Mussel (/ ˈ m ʌ s ə l /) is the common name used for members of several families of 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.
Note that the common names of edible bivalves can be misleading, in that not all species known as "cockles" "oysters", "mussels", etc., are closely related. Ark clams , including: Blood cockle; Senilia senilis; Many species of true mussels, family Mytilidae, including: Blue mussels. Blue mussel; California mussel; Mediterranean mussel; Mytilus ...
Some pea clams (genus Pisidium) have an adult size of only 3 mm (0.12 in). In contrast, one of the largest species of freshwater bivalves is the swan mussel from the family Unionidae ; it can grow to a length of 20 cm (7.9 in), and usually lives in lakes or slow-flowing rivers.
Oysters, mussels, clams, scallops and other bivalve species are grown with food materials that occur naturally in their culture environment in the sea and lagoons. [98] One-third of the world's farmed food fish harvested in 2010 was achieved without the use of feed, through the production of bivalves and filter-feeding carps . [ 98 ]
The two major classes of molluscs have representatives in freshwater: the gastropods (snails) and the bivalves (freshwater mussels and clams.) It appears that the other classes within the Phylum Mollusca -the cephalopods, scaphopods, polyplacophorans, etc. - never made the transition from a fully marine environment to a freshwater environment.
The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Margaritiferidae.. Although the name "freshwater pearl mussel" is often used for this species, other freshwater mussel species (e.g. Margaritifera auricularia) can also create pearls and some can also be used as a source of mother of pearl.
The common name "cockle" is also given by seafood sellers to a number of other small, edible marine bivalves which have a somewhat similar shape and sculpture, but are in other families such as the Veneridae (Venus clams) and the ark clams . Cockles in the family Cardiidae are sometimes referred to as "true cockles" to distinguish them from ...
The shell of the clam ranges from 15 centimetres (6 in) to over 20 centimetres (8 in) in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this: the "shaft" or siphons alone can be 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length. The geoduck is the largest burrowing clam in the world. [3]