How Does the Mussel Grow its Beard? | Deep Look
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- Опубликовано: 6 мар 2023
- Mussels create byssal threads, known as the mussel's "beard," to attach themselves both to rocks and to each other. They use their sensitive foot to mold the threads from scratch and apply a waterproof adhesive that makes superglue jealous.
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A day at the beach isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for mussels that make their home along the rough and tumble California coast. To keep from being swept away by the pummeling waves, they grow 50-100 strings called byssal fibers to attach themselves to the rocks and each other.
Those fibers are collectively called the byssus, otherwise known as the mussel’s “beard.”
So, how does the mussel create the byssal threads? Turns out mussels have a thread-making factory in their foot.
The foot, which looks like a little tongue, has a groove that runs its length. “The mussel squirts protein building blocks, which are liquid, into the groove channel. Then they become solid in just a matter of minutes,” says Matthew Harrington, a researcher at McGill University who takes inspiration from nature to create better and more sustainable materials.
The waterproof glue that the mussel uses to attach each thread to the rock hardens in water. Having a glue like that would be very useful for humans, especially in medical and dental situations where the adhesive needs to stick in a wet environment.
“If you’ve tried to put a piece of tape or glue onto a wet surface, even a slightly damp surface, you know it doesn’t stick,” says Harrington. “But mussels figured out how to glue things to a wet surface. It’s really interesting how they solved a problem that we, as engineers, have been working on for over 100 years.”
--- What do mussels eat?
Mussels are filter feeders. They suck in water, and they filter out tiny bits of food like algae and detritus churned up by waves.
--- What are mussels made of?
Mussels build their shells out of calcium carbonate, which they pull from the water.
--- How do mussels attach to rocks?
Mussels use their byssal threads, or “beards,” to connect themselves to rocks. In addition to their strong shell, keeping themselves attached to a rock makes it harder for predators to attack them.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
www.kqed.org/science/1981819/...
---+ For more information:
Harrington Lab at McGill University studies how mussels make byssal threads to create better and more sustainable materials:
harrington.lab.mcgill.ca/
Messersmith Research Lab studies the glue that mussels use to connect to rocks, in order to create adhesives for humans to use in situations like surgery, where the adhesive needs to harden in a wet environment:
bioinspiredmaterials.berkeley...
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#musselbeard #byssalthread #deeplook 
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What if the want to move? Can they detach the threads?
September 5, 2023
Fun fact: the giant bivalve Pinna nobilis of the Mediterranean makes such a big, luxurious beard that it's called sea silk, and has been used to spin fabric like silk!
@@duaneulkanov7129 yoo I’ve seen that vid before
Wait until nickelodeon hears about this!
But it's very endangered,I know because I almost got in trouble for playing with it as a kid xD
@@duaneulkanov7129 oh hey i remember watching that
I love how this channel is not shellfish and shares knowledge with all of us!
Always!
@@KQEDDeepLook And you are so Adorable. 🥰
Badum tsss
I am always so blown away at the footage captured by you guys! I hope more behind the scenes content gets posted, because not only do i love these videos, but i love seeing how they are made!
Thank you, Marshall, we have some behind the scenes Shorts coming soon.
it's a good day when you guys upload like you make the best high quality detailed vids❤
Thank you, utsav!
"Sticking together makes it harder for predators"
*That one mussel being eaten right next to their friends:* BRO
Yeah,bunching up is pretty useless,especially when they are human food.
It really says a lot about how useful the ability to make silk is, since so many different types of animals evolved to do it.
Can't get over how good of a voice actor Laura is. That delivery is flawless everytime. And what a voice. So good.
i can’t look at the foot without thinking of a tongue 😭
truly fascinating though! shows you how that life on earth is already so alien and unique!
Thanks Tina, we caught ourselves calling it a tongue too sometimes, by accident, during production.
I like that there is a new look on mussels week after Ze Franks True facts video
I absolutely adore bivalves! Such amazing and easily overlooked creatures. They're like Brita filters for the ocean.
I love anything to do with biomimetic engineering, so every time you spotlight a cool thing in the nature that we might be able to use as inspiration it really gets my brain juices flowing. :3
Alas, materials science was not my calling, but I love what I do anyway.
Did you hear about the research being done on using tinder fungus as a potential replacement for plastic?
Couldn't agree more! Yes, there has been some interesting work around using mycelium as a base for a number of materials science experiments.
New Deep Look video! Learns something new everytime I check them, thanks for the high quality videos as always.
Glad you like them, egg horse!
I always wonder the biology of these crustacean creatures such as muscles, clams and barnacle. I always saw them being in a single place and not moving whenever being disturb. Very interesting to learn more about them on Deep Look!
Molluscs. These are molluscs. Including octopus and squids, snails, clams.
Crustaceans are the crabs, prawns, lobsters and those teams
@@sagaramskp barnacles actually are crustaceans! They have a shrimp like body inside their shell! You can see it in the Deep Look video about acorn barnacles. Mussels and clams ARE mollusks though
True - here is our episode on barnacles: ruclips.net/video/lfnkFxg1gMw/видео.html
The 3D rendering was so nice. The rest of the video was high quality as always! Great work!
So many beards and no barbershop.
Jokes aside, I didn't get how the string gets out of the foot. Does it tap on a shell and then tap it on the ground? Like a spiderweb 🕸️
two days ago?
SogeMoge, thanks for being a Patreon supporter! The process is like injection molding; the foot unwraps the string before it is done hardening.
What I've learned: have dainty useful feet and grow a really strong beard and you'll make amazing bonds in your community! thank you for the life lessons!
Absolutely!
We have a lesson called biotechnology in 12th grade and this is exactly what they told us as an example for future reference of biotechnology. Love this channel ♥️
This is amazing! So happy that DeepLook exists 😊
Why have I only just found this channel?! I loved this video, thanks for such great content ❤
It's really fun to see all of these things I learned about in biology from lectures and textbooks. Much more vivid to see the animals alive as they do their stuff.
Genuinely one of the few applications of the shellfish pun actually works completely in context
It's a fine line.
Always learning new things with a Deep Look video!
Hey deep, how about the psychedelic fungus next, the fungus that exclusively control cicadas. It's unique in my opinion.
There has been a lot of interest in our fugus episodes lately... I wonder why 🤔. We did do an episode on a fungus that controls the minds of ants: ruclips.net/video/C2Jw5ib-s_I/видео.html
@@KQEDDeepLook perhaps because of Last of us series that makes people now interested to fungus 😂
Including me 🤣
You're likely referring to Cordyceps, right? I think the Pokemon Paras and Parasect are based on those.
@@EngelSpiel the psychedelic one is American and infects only adult magicicadas. It's also not a cordyceps. The one paras is based on is an edible cordyceps that infects cicada nymphs in Asia, it has no psychedelic properties.
@@Xinevlin the show was garbage
Always good to hear your voice.
It’s always nice to wake up to theses videos and learn cool things! :D
gosh i always love the music and sound design in these videos
Always asked myself how did they build the barbs. Love this channel
Thanks Raul!
I love this channel so much
Spider clam, Spider clam, does whatever a spider can
We studied the byssal threads in Molecular Biomechanics back in university. Incredibly strong but flexible materials that scientists are working on replicating, but we never covered how the mussel actually generates the thread in the first place. Fascinating footage as ever!
The scriptwriter deserves a raise or at least a bonus! Such a witty yet entertaining script u got there!
Amazing footage!! Hope more people appreciate these creatures than just considering as a food
Love the Humor at the end 🥰🤣😂🤣🥰
amazing how this good of content is free
DEEP LOOK I WATCH UR VIDS EVERYDAYY
So informative and...and aah! The lovely voice! just amazing channel..lots of L❤VE
Never thought I'd be glued to my screen watching a video about muscles. Well done.
good to know 👍👍👍... deep look is my best zooming details teacher ❤️❤️❤️
Deep Look upload. Lets go!!
Always great to watch something educational
what would the world do/be without the enlightening oracle that deep look is :)
Love this channel.. 😂 🙌🏿
Flex glue nature version!
I wonder if they remain in one spot in a whole life? & When do they stick themselves onto the substrate? While young or in early adulthood? An intriguing creature captured. Amazing as usual!
A new Deep Look video!
Thank you DL
As usual... nature is... AMAZING
Having stepped on these I can say they're incredibly SHARP
yup, thats the best channel on youtube
The clongy shelfish joke my lady 👌
reminds me of one of those flex glue commercials :
it is super strong, it even dries under water!🤣
Today, I learned about mussel beard. Never stop learning.
10/10 for that pun at the end😅
Ha ha... The puns at the end... so funny.🙄
Lol😆
So I guess mollusks have a higher chance of growing a beard than me.
In my town the old sailors used to have fun telling teens that pigeon poop makes you grow a full beard
Wow I 😮all brand new learnings 🙌🏼
what a delicious video. thanks deeplook
The best creator of RUclips in my opinion
Thanks Tashin! We work hard on these videos so your praise means a lot.
Asusual it's the best Informatic video 🤗, thank you to make us to know about mussel 😉
Glad you liked it Tamil!
Great video!
yeah yeah but that soundtrack fire tho 🔥🔥🔥🔥
How do they even highlight the byssal thread so accurately
That's glue must be very useful for aquarium and ponds, many aquarist hobbyst and any fishery or farm want it
This is amazing!
Thanks, Chi!
I never even knew they had those beards, very interesting
They should've called the mussel the tendon instead.
I see what you did there.
I need a part 2 detailing how they get rid of unwanted attachments to move closer to friends or otherwise
More invertebrate sea creatures please 💙
Disconnected and all alone? Yep, that’s me
Super fascinating! Delicious...the quality and the organism...😅
Thank you 😋
Wow that's amazing!!
Thank you! Cheers Kim!
@@KQEDDeepLook you're welcome I'm loving the channel so much!
I love the puns... the really just.. *stick* together
Amazing!
They're like a community of mountain climbers or when mother nature accidentally installed a clam with spider hardware
Spider mussel does whatever a spider mussel does.
This wasn’t the bearded clam video I was expecting.
Love everything about this video
Cheers Raymond! You've been with us a long time!
@@KQEDDeepLookfeels like yesterday lol
I like the puns at the end 😂
yeah about that water proof glue. have you heard of Flex Seal?
My parents harvest them some times and fry them for soup. It’s very hard to get a muscle you must cut and pull and pull! Such a strong creature !
I wonder how to capture this kind of footage :D
Is Laura back? Always loved your narration :)
Yep!
I guess the euphemism "bearded clam" is more than just a euphemism!
How are these mussels not charged with public indecency yet?!
Believe me or not i have watched all your videos
Mmm. One of my favorite foods!
Do you know if you touch will it retreat back
This Mussel is Spiderman
Quite a week for mussels. Yesterday Ze Frank and today DL and it’s only Tuesday 😅
We love Ze Frank!
Abyssal thread?
yep, a byssal thread.
3:24 those are good puns
These mussels are hairier than my dad's beard
Thought you were gonna say something else than "beard"
It's the mucus that bind us... 😀
Mussels an bivalves seem to me almost like plants, almost motionless, but not quite.
Any guy who's whacked it in the shower already knows we have glue that hardens underwater.
2:58 flex seal guy is probably taking notes
This was the weirdest notification I've probably ever gotten from RUclips
Thanks! We consider that compliment. We do it for science.
This is our fav. Dish in the Philippines. TAHONG 🤤😛
2:05 and what was that line near the mussel that broke off seconds later
It sounds delicious!
I mean: interesting.
I always wondered what was going on in that one episode of Magic School Bus, they didn't explain this whole thread thing.