Los Penasquitos Lagoon bivalve heart rate estimates 2024-10 to 2025-05

Groups of Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels and Magallana [Crassostrea] gigas oysters obtained from Los Penasquitos Lagoon near the railroad bridge were outfitted with a MAX30101 pulse oximeter, glued to the exterior of the shell over the approximate location of the heart, in order to record opening movement of the heart using reflected infrared light. A floating mooring was deployed in Los Penasquitos Lagoon southwest of the railroad bridge on 2024-10-08 near the center of the channel. A group of mussels and oysters was suspended from the line near the channel bottom, approximately 50 cm above the benthos. A second group of mussels and oysters was suspended from the underside of the surface float at a depth of approximately 5 centimeters. Heart movement was recorded, and those raw values were subsequently converted into an estimate of heart rate in beats per minute. The deployment continued through 2025-05.