![]() While the mussel bed will likely recover in a year or two, Harley noted that heat waves will happen more frequently and with greater severity due to climate change. The wipeout will temporarily affect water quality, as mussels and clams help filter the sea, Harley said. (Chris Harley/University of British Columbia) The meat in the shells indicates the creatures had recently died. Harley calculated the number of dead animals found in small areas and multiplied it by the habitat size in the Salish Sea, which spans from Campbell River, B.C., to Olympia, Wash.Ĭhris Harley observed these dead mussels in West Vancouver's Lighthouse Park in late June. They discovered endless rows of mussels with dead meat attached inside the shell, along with other dead creatures, including sea stars and barnacles. Tipped off by the smell on the Sunday morning of the heat wave, Harley and a team of student researchers began to canvas multiple coastlines, including those in West Vancouver and on the Sunshine Coast. And on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, during the heat wave, it just got so hot that the mussels, there was nothing they could do." Water quality will be impacted "They are stuck there until the parent comes back, or in this case, the tide comes back in, and there's very little they can do. "A mussel on the shore in some ways is like a toddler left in a car on a hot day," Harley said. Intertidal animals such as mussels, which live where land and sea meet, can endure temperatures in the high 30s for short periods of time, Harley said.īut the scorching heat, combined with low tides in the middle of the afternoon, created a dangerous combination for more than six hours at a time. ![]() The scale bar on the right shows the hottest and coolest temperatures recorded in the image. A thermal image of recently killed mussels in Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, B.C., captured on June 28.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |