Heatwave cooks mussels in their shells on California shore

Temperatures lead to what appears to be largest local die-off in 15 years, raising fears for broader ecosystem

In all her years working at Bodega Bay, the marine reserve research coordinator Jackie Sones had never seen anything like it: scores of dead mussels on the rocks, their shells gaping and scorched, their meats thoroughly cooked.

A record-breaking June heatwave apparently caused the largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years at Bodega Head, a small headland on the northern California bay. And Sones received reports from other researchers of similar mass mussel deaths at various beaches across roughly 140 miles of coastline.

Continue reading...

from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/31ZzxYF