A brown, cigar-shaped bivalve mollusc which bores into limestone and coral.
Genus Lithophaga, family Mytilidae
Example sentencesExamples
- Rocks and coral blocks cast up on shore often show the tell-tale circular or oval openings of the burrows of boring bivalves such as piddocks and date mussels.
- Urchin pits and piddock and date mussel holes are valuable habitat for other animals.
- Some mussels, date mussels, secrete acid and dissolve limestone.
- The date mussel's shell is covered with a thick brown layer of horny material, which protects it against the acid.
- The Asian mussel - also known as the Asian date mussel - is a bag mussel native to the north-western Pacific coast.