mussels

Mussels and silkworms may soon be indirectly responsible for saving people's lives. Scientists have used proteins from both animals to develop an internal wound dressing that stops bleeding and prevents infections.Ordinarily, in order to halt the bleeding of open wounds on internal organs (or other internal tissue), surgeons pack gauze sponges around them. Because those sponges aren't biodegradable, they have to be removed before the incision is closed. That said, sometimes a sponge may be missed, requiring a subsequent…

It would be an understatement to say that mussels and other mollusks usually aren't thought of as being particularly active. Recently, however, scientists have documented a water-squirting behavior in just one species, which is apparently using the action to give its larvae a fighting chance.For the study, a University of Cambridge team led by Prof. David Aldridge observed freshwater Unio crassus mussels in Poland's Biała Tarnowska River in the springtime. There were anecdotal reports of the mussels repeatedly squirting…

Shimmering on the rocky bed of the White River in Missouri is something that appears like a small fish. It has fins and eyes, and it wiggles as if it’s swimming. To bass that hunt in these waters, the creature looks like food. But when the predators go in for a bite, they don’t get a meal. Instead, they’re blasted in the face with a stream of baby freshwater mussels, which latch onto their gills. Fooled. The small fish lookalike is not a fish at all. It’s actually part of a mussel — a gooey creature encased in a…

Invasive freshwater zebra mussels are a problem in many regions, clogging structures such as water intake and water treatment pipes as they rapidly reproduce. A new technology could help, by getting them to eat "eco-friendly" poison disguised as food.Mussels feed by drawing in waterborne particles, assessing them to determine if they have nutritional value, then digesting the particles that are deemed edible. The rejected particles are bound with mucus, then expelled.Led by professors David Aldridge and Geoff Moggridge, a…