MUSSEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mussel mean? 

• MUSSEL (noun)
  The noun MUSSEL has 2 senses:

1. black marine bivalves usually steamed in wine

2. marine or freshwater bivalve mollusk that lives attached to rocks etc.

  Familiarity information: MUSSEL used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MUSSEL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Black marine bivalves usually steamed in wine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("mussel" is a kind of...):

shellfish (meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean))

Holonyms ("mussel" is a part of...):

edible mussel; Mytilus edulis (a mussel with a dark shell that lives attached to rocks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marine or freshwater bivalve mollusk that lives attached to rocks etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("mussel" is a kind of...):

bivalve; lamellibranch; pelecypod (marine or freshwater mollusks having a soft body with platelike gills enclosed within two shells hinged together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mussel"):

marine mussel; mytilid (marine bivalve mollusk having a dark elongated shell; live attached to solid objects especially in intertidal zones)

freshwater clam; freshwater mussel (bivalve mollusk abundant in rivers of central United States)

 Context examples 

With the mussels' help, marshes can recover from drought in less than a decade.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are found in seafood, including fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna, and trout) and shellfish (such as crab, mussels, and oysters).

(Omega-3s linked with lower risk of fatal heart attacks, NIH)

C. lari is associated in recurrent gastroenteritis in children, causes septicemia and enteritis in immunodeficient patients and is commensal in healthy seagulls, birds, mussels and oysters.

(Campylobacter lari, NCI Thesaurus)

The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth’s feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

More broadly, the researchers used the bees as a model organism to better understand the impact of changing land uses on the diversity of species that make up a community of organisms and, in turn, their delivery of ecosystem services, such as crop pollination, water filtration (by mussels, for example) or carrion scavenging (vulture feeding).

(Diverse Bee Communities Best for Apple Orchards, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

In fact, grass growing in mussel clusters had a 64 percent probability of surviving, compared to a one percent probability in areas without mussels.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

The marine biologists found that wherever there were clusters of mussels embedded in the mud around the base of the grass stems, the grass survived.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

The results found that mussels piled up in mounds around salt grass stems helped to protect the grasses by improving water storage around their roots and reducing soil salinity.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

The researchers suspected that mussels, by paving the marsh surface with their ribbed shells, attracted burrowing crabs that excavate underground water storage compartments.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

Now, new research shows that a mutualistic relationship — where two organisms benefit from each other's activities — between ribbed mussels and salt marsh grasses may play a critical role in helping salt marshes bounce back from extreme climate events such as drought.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)