California Biota Home Page....Animals....Mollusca

Mytilus californianus

Mussels live upside down in dense beds, along the surf swept rocks of the coast. 

The California Mussel can grow up to 20 cm long, often having eroded tips that show bands of blue, black, and white.

Mussels attach themselves to rocks and each other by secreting a thick liquid that forms a thread-like fiber in saltwater that is know as a byssus.