Mass mortality horse mussels Waikanae

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
GrahamB
Posts: 167
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:29 am
Location: Waikanae, Kapiti Coast

Mass mortality horse mussels Waikanae

Postby GrahamB » Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:35 pm

Hi all,

a very distressing sight today at Waikanae beach, especially near the northern small estuary. Huge numbers of horse mussels (Atrina zelandica), (or fan mussels in UK) along the most recent high-tide strand line. Most dead but many still alive and gaping - beautiful animals in anguish. I have never seen such an extreme phenomenon and am trying to think of a reason - flushed out of the estuary by floods, cold shock, or a toxic pollution event?

Cheers,
GrahamB

P.S. Also possible is a haplosporidium infection:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 1118303641
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. ... 21.1910344
Fan mussels 3.jpg
Fan mussels 3.jpg (256.97 KiB) Viewed 2236 times
Fan mussels 2.jpg
Fan mussels 2.jpg (301.67 KiB) Viewed 2236 times
Fan mussels 1.jpg
Fan mussels 1.jpg (246.71 KiB) Viewed 2236 times

Return to “Other Natural History”