Hi Whitney and other members of Conch-L,
 
I am 35 and a chinese scientist working on the ecology and physiology of
marine mussels in Hong Kong. The speices now I am studying are the green
mussel, Perna viridis and the Isognomon. I am very happy to sent you byssal
threads of tropical species of mussels, e.g., Perna viridis, Septifer
virgatus, if you want to. On the other hand, I have some problems about
identifying individual species of Isognomon. There are four species in Hong
Kong. They are Isognomon acutirostris, I. ephippium, I. isognomum and I.
legumen. There's no problem in identifying I. legumen because it is a
typical, albeit pleurothetic, member of the Isognomonidae whereas other
members attach orthothetically. However, there are problems in identifying
the other three species. I would appreciate so much if any information or
references that can be provided for helping me to solve the problems. Thank
you in advance.
 
 
Dr Siu Gin Cheung
Department of Biology & Chemistry,
City University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong.
 
At 12:16 PM 2/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I am currently conducting research on possible uses of the byssal threads
>of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) since they are often removed during
>processing for human consumption.
>
>I am interested in any ideas that members of this listserv may have
>regarding possible uses.  For instance, byssal threads of other mollusks
>have been used to make a fiber suitable for making fabric.
>
>Also, I am interested in comparing byssal threads of the blue mussel to
>other mollusks.  If you have access to live mollusks and can remove
>byssal threads, I would be very interested in acquiring them.  In
>particular, I am interested in the byssal threads of the noble pen shell.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Whitney Rapp
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