Contamination of persistent organochlorines (OCs) such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) isomers (HCHs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), and HCB (hexachlorobenzene) were examined in mussels collected from coastal waters of Asian countries such as Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Far East...

In global climate change scenarios, seawater warming acts in concert with multiple stress sources, which may enhance the susceptibility of marine biota to thermal stress. Here, the responsiveness to seasonal gradual warming was investigated in temperate mussels from a chronically stressed population in comparison with a healthy one. Stressed and healthy mussels were subjected to gradual tempera...

Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) are ecologically and economically important marine invertebrates whose populations are at risk from climate change-associated variation in their environment, such as decreased coastal salinity. Blue mussels are osmoconfomers and use components of the metabolome (free amino acids) to help maintain osmotic balance and cellular function during low salinity exposure. H...

The invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has quickly colonized shallow-water habitats in the North American Great Lakes since the 1980s but the quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis) is becoming dominant in both shallow and deep-water habitats. While quagga mussel shell morphology differs between shallow and deep habitats, functional causes and consequences of such difference are unknown. W...

A set of biomarkers was used to assess the impact of heavy metal pollution by a ferro-nickel smelting plant in Larymna bay (North Evoikos Gulf, Greece). These included a biomarker reflecting health status of an organism (scope for growth, SFG), a cellular biomarker of heavy metal exposure (composition of metal-containing granules), and two biochemical biomarkers reflecting oxidative stress (glu...

The occurrence of freshwater harmful algal bloom toxins impacting the coastal ocean is an emerging threat, and the potential for invertebrate prey items to concentrate toxin and cause harm to human and wildlife consumers is not yet fully recognized. We examined toxin uptake and release in marine mussels for both particulate and dissolved phases of the hepatotoxin microcystin, produced by the fr...

A large-scale study of Saginaw Bay was initiated in 1990 and continued through 1993 to examine the effects of the zebra mussel colonization which began in summerlfall 1991. Saginaw Bay responded quickly to the zebra mussel colonization, as fall 1991 values of chlorophyll were similar to 1992 and 1993 values. In inner Saginaw Bay, where most zebra mussels were found, chlorophyll, kPAR, and total...

Hydrodynamic performance of the marine mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, is studied with time-resolved particle image velocimetry. We evaluated inhalant flow, exhalant jet flow, suction performance and flow control capabilities of the mussels quantitatively. Inhalant flow structures of mussels are measured at the coronal plane for the first time in literature. Nutrient fluid is convected into ...

During the early 1990s, 2 Eurasian macrofouling mollusks, the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and the quagga mussel D. bugensis, colonized the freshwater section of the St. Lawrence River and decimated native mussel populations through competitive interference. For several years, zebra mussels dominated molluscan biomass in the river; however, quagga mussels have increased in abundance and ar...

Impacts of alien species may change with time but there are few long-term studies of invasions. Here, we present an example of a substantial change in the impact of an alien species that appeared more than a decade after initial invasion. We studied an invasion of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) into the Hudson River (New York, USA) over a 22 year period (1987–2008) including five years of...