Mussels… not your average shellfish!
February 7, 2009 by BayKeeper
Filed under Wild Things
The shoreline shell surveys have been going great! I’ve been meeting a whole lot of new people on beaches and learning more each day about the shellfish story. But you know how it is … the more you learn the more you know you don’t know.
Which shellfish were most common in the Bay before Melbourne was born?
I figure that shell middens created by indigenous people over thousands of years probably give the best available clues. Aboriginal Affairs Victoria have very kindly sent me an Archaeological Survey of the Mornington Peninsula (Sullivan 1981). This records 15 shell species present in 98 middens on the Port Phlliip Bay coast (south of Canadian Bay Road) .
The most common species in practically all middens was the Blue Mussel Mytilus planulatus. It appears they were the most common species on rock platforms around the bay, and a favourite food for the Boon Wurrung people whose traditional land extends from Werribee River, right around the east coast of the Bay and to Wilsons Promontory. The study found Mytilus edulis planulatus is the dominant species on all Mornington Peninsula middens. Subninella undulata, Cellana tramoserica, Notohaliotus ruber, and Dicathais orbita are present in more than 50% of the sites in small numbers. ”
But how are these once common species travelling now? If anyone is the full bottle on the life an time of mussels in the Bay, or even just interested in the topic, Baykeeper would love to hear from you.
howdy you old spunk, love the site
karen x
Thanks for the kind words Karen. But I think you’re mistaking me for someone else. Actually… I’m an OLD PUNK!
Mid April a live argonaut was washed up on Seaford Beach just north of the Pier at the end of Station Street. This is early for the usual winter influx of argonauts or has it been hanging around the bay since last year’s flotilla visited us?
Gee, that’s tough one! There seems to be a few schools (pardon the pun) of thought about Argonauts. In this case I’m pretty sure we’re talking about Argonauta nodosa, aka paper nautilus, an octopus-like animal, not one of the Greek heroes who sailed to fetch the golden fleece! It may just be that the one you met did arrive last year. Argonauts are believed to live longer than other octopus species which generally only live for 1 to 2 years. But it’s not easy to tell one from another… if you found one in the same place in 2 different years you couldn’t really be sure it was the same animal.
Apart from that, there are some major changes happening since the Rip was deepened for the Channel Deepening Project in 2008. The tidal currents are now much stronger. We’re likely to see a lot of changes in the seasonal movements of bouyant ocean-living species that can get carried into the Bay on the incoming tide, or flushed out on the outgoing tides. There’s so much more to enjoy and learn about the Bay. Thanks for sharing your observations with us Alison!