Aquatic Mytilus planulatus (Blue Mussel)

[Blake]

Botanical Name: Mytilus planulatus

Common Name Blue Mussel

Other Names: Salt Water Mussel, Blue Mussel

Distribution: Southern coastal Australian bays and estuaries including Tasmania and bass straight.

Field Notes: Forms in clumps where it attaches to solid and sheltered features such as reefs, rocks, pillions, or moorings. The shell is a two sided symmetrical long tear drop shape which is black in colour, lightening toward the point. It is often covered with other sea vegetation which may break up the patterning. Inside is a orange to cream coloured mussel with a dark lip which attaches to to the shell by a strong white muscle. The mussel attaches to permanent water features with hairy, rootlike tendrils which extrude from the side of the shell.

Uses: Should be eaten within 24 hours of removal from the water. Can be cooked over coals or boiled until the shell opens, remove the mussel from the shell and discard the roots. As with all shellfish, caution should be given to the quality of the waterway in which it was removed before consumption.

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[Aussie123]

When harvesting, remove the "beard" (external growths and sand). Discard any mussels which are open, they are dead or sick.
Its much easier and better to clean the mussels before you cook them, because as they cook, they will open, so there is less sand and debris to get into them.

Once cooked, only eat the mussels which have opened, the ones which remain closed were probably dead (when you harvested them).