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I am a mussel. My sicientific name is Mytilus galloprovincialis.
My body, which is inside a kind of box made up of two black-purplish shells, is very soft a its colour varies between orange and white.
On the external side I have some strong threads, called byssus.
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We live in large communities on the rocks, where the waves break
We eat little particles that live in the water, that have vegetal or animal origin.
We catch them, with our gills, which we use to filter the water, catch our food and breath.
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There are male and female mussels. A female's body is orange; a male's body is yellow or white.
For breeding, male and female mussels expel our sexual products into the water, where fertilisation takes place.
About twenty days later, the fertilised eggs develop into free-swimming larvae.
Starfish like mussels very much.
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In 1235, somebody discovered that mussels could be cultivate: He planted some sticks on the beach.
Later on, he realised that mussels were covering the sticks.
In Spain people cultivate us in flat-bottomed boats.
A flat-bottomed boat is a wooden structure that floats in the sea. Several ropes hang from the boat.
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