The Texture of Culture

Abstract

On some oyster grounds in Chesapeake Bay, the hooked mussel, Ischadium(=Brachidontes) recurvum, forms dense colonies attached to live oysters. Theauthors found that oysters with attached mussels were characteristicallymore elongate than were mussel-free controls. More meat, relative to shell,was produced in mussel-free oysters, with these oysters having a conditionfactor about 28% better than the condition factor of oysters with attachedmussels.