Lab incubations of mussels (Mytilus californianus) examining the influence of simulated abrasion of periostracum on external shell dissolution at Marshall Gulch Beach, CA from August 2021 to March 2022

These data build off of experimental incubations described in Dataset 1. Given that the periostracum can be eroded over time, we were interested in whether the abrasion of the periostracum by sand of differing coarseness might separately influence dissolution rates under corrosive seawater conditions. Therefore, we conducted incubations of abraded California mussel valves, Mytilus californianus, (in addition to unsanded control valves) and measured dissolution rates as a function of sand paper grit coarseness (pH = 7.4). This dataset represents shell dissolution data of California Mussels from lab experiments conducted at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis in August 2022. For the current study, adult mussels (42 - 64 mm in length) were collected from Marshall Gulch, California (38.369738 °N, -123.073921 °W) between August 2021 and March 2022 and transported immediately to the University of California Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory (< 30 min distance), in Bodega Bay, California. Mussels were held in filtered, flow-through seawater and fed ad libitum until used in experiments.

Dataset 1: Lab incubations of mussels (Mytilus californianus) examining the influence of periostracum cover and pH on external shell dissolution at Marshall Gulch Beach, CA from August 2021 to March 2022 (see BCO-DMO related dataset).