Mussels of the Mytilidae Family are a bivalve mollusk that have an elongated pear shaped shell that has a long hinge line. They are equivalve with both valves being identical in size and shape.
Mussels attached themselves to rocks with a strong byssus (thread-like anchor lines); a few are found over and within sand substrate. Mussels are suspension feeders, eating plankton and detritus collected from the drift. In turn they are preyed upon by Sea Stars.
Mussels are world-wide in tropical and temperate waters, and in both fresh and saltwater. Most mussels live intertidally or sub-tidally, but a few live in deep water. There are two hundred fifty species in the Mytilidae Family of which thirty-three are found along the coastlines of the Baja Peninsula. Many mussel species are edible and have been consumed by humans for hundreds of years.