Musculista senhousia 
System : Marine
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Animalia
Mollusca
Bivalvia
Mytiloida
Mytilidae
- General
- Distribution
- Impact
- Management
- Bibliography
- Contact
Common name
Asian mussel (English, USA), green mussel (English, USA), cuckoo mussel (English), senhouse mussel (English), hototogisu (English), Senhouse's mussel (English), Asian date mussel (English), Japanese mussel (English, USA), green bagmussel (English, USA), date mussel (English)
Synonym
Brachidontes (Arcuatula) senhousia , Kira, 1959
Brachidontes (Musculista) senhousia , Kira, 1962
Brachidontes aquarius , Grabau and King, 1928
Modiola bellardiana , Tapparone-Canefri, 1874
Modiola senhausii , Reeve, 1857
Modiola senhousia , Benson in Cantor, 1842
Modiolus senhousei , Hanna, 1966
Musculista senhausia , Morton, 1974
Musculus (Musculista ) senhousia , Yammamoto & Habe, 1958
Volsella senhausi , Smith, 1944
Modiola arcuatula , Hanley, 1844
Brachidontes (Musculista) senhousia , Kira, 1962
Brachidontes aquarius , Grabau and King, 1928
Modiola bellardiana , Tapparone-Canefri, 1874
Modiola senhausii , Reeve, 1857
Modiola senhousia , Benson in Cantor, 1842
Modiolus senhousei , Hanna, 1966
Musculista senhausia , Morton, 1974
Musculus (Musculista ) senhousia , Yammamoto & Habe, 1958
Volsella senhausi , Smith, 1944
Modiola arcuatula , Hanley, 1844
Similar species
Xenostrobus securis, Modiola arcuatula
Summary
Musculista senhousia is a small, short-lived mytilid mussel native to east Asia which has successfully spread to New Zealand, Australia, the Mediterranean and the Pacific coast of the USA. It can grow rapidly and is capable of marked habitat alteration through the construction of byssal mats on the surface of soft sediments.
Species Description
Musculista senhousia is a small mussel with a maximum length of around 30mm, but most commonly 10-25mm in length and up to 12mm in width. It has a smooth, thin shell which is an olive green to brown in colour, with dark radial lines or zigzag markings. A well developed byssus is used to construct a cocoon which protects the shell. This cocoon is made up of byssal threads and sediment. M. senhousia burrows vertically down into the sand/mud leaving only its posterior end protruding, allowing its siphons access to the water to enable feeding (NIMPIS, 2002; CIESM, 2005).
Notes
Predation by native species contributes significantly to community resistance to invasion by Musculista senhousia in southern California, and may locally prevent the mussel from establishing dense, habitat-modifying beds with potential effects on native species. (Reusch, 1998).
Lifecycle Stages
Musculista senhousia eggs and larvae are planktonic, and remain in the plankton for 45-55 days. It can reach adult size within 9 months, and up to 25mm within a year. Life span is thought to be between 18 and 24 months (Crook, 1996; CSIRO, 2000; NIMPIS, 2002; CIESM, 2005).
Habitat Description
Musculista senhousia is an opportunistic species which can be found from intertidal to subtidal habitats (to a depth of 20m) and on soft or hard substrata. It prefers to settle in groups on soft substrata, but is capable of fouling wharf pilings and man made structures. When settled on hard substrata the mussel will not form a protective cocoon. When densities are high, individual byssal cocoons fuse to form continuous byssal carpets. Densities of \"up to 2,500 mussels per square metre in Hong Kong, 2,600 per square metre in Western Australia, 2,800 per square metre in Japan, 3,300 per square metre in New Zealand, 8,600 per square metre in Mission Bay, 12,400 per square metre in San Diego Bay and 16,000 per square metre at Auckland, New Zealand have been reported. Crooks (2002) reported that densities of 5,000-10,000 per square metre are typical in mats in Mission Bay, with peak densities of over 150,000 mussels per square metre. Juveniles have been reported to settle on eelgrass at densities of 28,650 per square metre and on synthetic line at 126,000 per square metre; they later drop off these substrates to settle in mats on the bottom\" (Cohen, 2005). M. senhousia is a highly adaptive species, and is able to tolerate low salinities (CSIRO, 2000; NIMPIS, 2002).
Reproduction
Musculista senhousia is a species with high fecundity, rapid growth, a short life span and good dispersal ability, making it a successful invader. In the northern hemisphere it reproduces in the summer, larvae being most abundant through autumn and early winter. It has separate sexes, with males and females spawning at the same time. Spawning time varies within a limited spawning season (NIMPIS, 2002; CIESM, 2005).
Nutrition
Musculista senhousia, like most mussels, is a suspension feeder. It lives endobenthically just below the sediment surface, where it filters phytoplankton from the water column with a short (<5mm) siphon (Morton, 1974; in Reusch and Williams, 1998; NIMPIS, 2002; Allen and Williams, 2003).
Pathway
Musculista senhousia may have been introduced to Australia as an accidental importation with Pacific oysters (CSIRO, 2000). In the Mediterranean, invasion of M. senhousia has been strictly linked with shellfish farming and trading.The initial invasion of the Pacific coast of the USA is attributed to transport with oysters imported from Japan (Mistri et al. 2004).
Principal source: NIMPIS. 2002. Musculista senhousia species summary. National Introduced Marine Pest Information System (Eds: Hewitt, C.L., Martin, R.B., Sliwa, C., McEnnulty, F.R., Murphy, N.E., Jones, T. and Cooper, S.).
Compiler: National Biological Information Infrastrcuture (NBII) & IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
Review:
Publication date: 2006-11-16
Recommended citation: Global Invasive Species Database (2024) Species profile: Musculista senhousia. Downloaded from http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/species.php?sc=1031 on 26-04-2024.
General Impacts
Musculista senhousia can dominate benthic communities and potentially exclude native species. It settles in aggregations and is therefore able to reach high densities. Unlike most mussels, M. senhousia lives entirely within the sediments, surrounded by a bag of byssal threads. At mussel densities of greater than 1500 m2, individual byssal bags coalesce to form a continuous mat or carpet on the sediment surface. The presence of these mats dramatically alters the natural benthic habitat, changing both the local physical environment and the resident macroinvertebrate assemblage. Although this can result in increased species richness and abundance of some species, mussel mats reduce the densities of many common native bivalves and the growth of nearby eelgrass (NIMPIS, 2002; Allen and Williams, 2003). Crooks (1999) found that the effects of M. senhousia appear to be scale dependent. At larger scales, surface-dwelling, suspension-feeding clams are competitively inhibited. At smaller scales, however, the mussel benefits a variety of biota.
M. senhousia deposits large amounts of organic matter in the sediment, which possibly results in the accumulation of toxic metabolites such as sulfide, which can have adverse effects on seagrass growth (Morton, 1974; Ito and Kajihara, 1981; in Reusch and Williams, 1998).
M. senhousia deposits large amounts of organic matter in the sediment, which possibly results in the accumulation of toxic metabolites such as sulfide, which can have adverse effects on seagrass growth (Morton, 1974; Ito and Kajihara, 1981; in Reusch and Williams, 1998).
Management Info
A two year study was undertaken for the Department of Environment and Heritage (Australia) by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to identify and rank introduced marine species found within Australian waters and those not found within Australian waters.
All of the non-native potential target species identified in this report are ranked as high, medium and low priority, based on their invasion potential and impact potential. A hazard ranking of potential domestic target species based on invasion potential from infected to uninfected bioregions identifies Musculista senhousia as a 'medium priority species' - these species have a reasonably high impact/or invasion potential.
For more details, please see Hayes et al. 2005.
The rankings determined in Hayes et al. 2005 will be used by the National Introduced Marine Pest Coordinating Group in Australia to assist in the development of national control plans which could include options for control, eradication and/or long term management.
All of the non-native potential target species identified in this report are ranked as high, medium and low priority, based on their invasion potential and impact potential. A hazard ranking of potential domestic target species based on invasion potential from infected to uninfected bioregions identifies Musculista senhousia as a 'medium priority species' - these species have a reasonably high impact/or invasion potential.
For more details, please see Hayes et al. 2005.
The rankings determined in Hayes et al. 2005 will be used by the National Introduced Marine Pest Coordinating Group in Australia to assist in the development of national control plans which could include options for control, eradication and/or long term management.
McEnnulty et al. (2001) list four possible control options for M. senhousia: air exposure/dessication/freezing, commerical harvesting for food and fertiliser, dredging/beamtrawling/mopping, heated water treatment (baths, spray). Please see The Web-based Rapid Response Toolbox for more detailed information.
Predation by native species contributes significantly to community resistance to invasion by M. senhousia in southern California, and may locally prevent the mussel from establishing dense, habitat-modifying beds with potential effects on native species. (Reusch, 1998).
