Can you distinguish a mussel from a clam

Mussels and clams are amongst the most delicious seafood, yet those are a little too difficult to differentiate due to their close resemblance, being members of the same taxonomic class, bivalves. Therefore, understanding the difference may be important. Their habitats and habits with the external morphology are amongst the best characteristics, to explore differences between them. Mussel is technically used to refer many types of bivalves living in both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems.

However, most often mussels are the edible bivalves of the Family: Mytilidae. The great majority of those edible mussels live attached to the substrates in the intertidal zone. They prefer to keep attached to substrates that are mostly exposed, and their byssal threads are used for the attachment.

However, some species prefer to live around deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Mussels have a long pair of shells and the muscular foot is prominent out of all the organs.

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Get the Answers App. All Rights Reserved. You would be surprised to know that mussel shells actually carry a lot of functions: providing support for tissues, protection from predators, and desiccation. The shell is composed of three layers — the iridescent layer, prismatic layer, and the periostracum.

In pearly mussels, the iridescent layer is made up of calcium carbonate secreted consistently by the mantle. The prismatic layer, which is the middle layer, is composed of white, chalky crystals of calcium carbonate covered in a protein matrix.

The periostracum is the outer pigment layer and is similar to skin. It has conchin that contains protein, which serves as protection from abrasions and dissolutions by acids. Conversely, clams have a shell that contains two equal halves or valves. These clams are joined together by a hinge join and a ligament. It can either be external or internal, similar to that of a Venus flytrap.

Clams have two adductor muscles that allow the shell to close as it contracts. Clams have no heads; however, they have kidneys, a heart, a mouth, and an anus.

Moreover, clams have open circulatory systems; they have organs that are surrounded by watery blood. This blood contains the nutrients and oxygen needed for their survival. Clams eat plankton through the process of filter feeding, which happens by drawing in water containing food via a siphon system.

As the food is filtered out of the water with the use of gills, it is swept toward the mouth on the layer of mucus. Finally, water is expelled by the animal from another siphon system. Mussels come from a bivalve family and attach to a substrate with the help of byssal threads. Clams are bivalve mollusks that burrow themselves into the sediment. The shells of a mussel have three different layers: the iridescent layer, prismatic layer, and periostracum.