Responses of the mussel Mytilusedulis L. to simulated subarctic tide pool conditions

Mussels in subarctic Norway commonly occur in shallow intertidal pools. By living in pools (a habitat rarely inhabited in lower latitudes) they are insulated against low air temperatures but exposed to high salinities (<70°/oo) beneath overlying ice. Mussels avoid exposing their tissues to such high salinities because a shell valve closure response to low temperature operates at about ?1.5°C before ice sheets form and bottom water salinities rise. Shell valve closure coincides with very low cardiac and ciliary activity.