Mytilus chilensis, also called the Chilean mussel or Chilean blue mussel is a type of blue mussel native to the coasts of Chile and the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

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Aquaculture

The chilean mussel is under intensive aquaculture

Aquaculture

Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...

 in Chile. From 2004 to 2008 the annual commercial harvest increased from 80,000 to 200,000 tonnes. Following a decrease n 2009, the production was back at high level in 2010. Over 45,000 tonnes of mussels were exported in 2008, 93 % of them frozen. Some 74 % of exports are to the EU, primarily Spain and France, and 15 % to the United States.

Systematics

The Chilean mussel is part of the world-wide Mytilus edulis complex of mussels, and its taxonomic relationship to other, Northern Hemisphere smooth-shelled blue mussel

Blue mussel

The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. In spite of its specific name edulis, it is not the sole edible Mytilus species.-Distribution:...

s has been unclear. Genetic studies of nuclear markers

Nuclear gene

A Nuclear gene is a gene located in the cell nucleus of a eukaryote. The term is used to distinguish nuclear genes from the genes in the mitochondrion, and in case of plants, also the chloroplast, which host their own genetic system and can produce proteins from scratch...

 suggested that it shares features of the Mediterranean mussel

Mediterranean mussel

The Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, also known as the bay mussel, blue mussel or Mittelmeer-Miesmuschel is a species of bivalve. It is a marine mollusc in the family Mytilidae.-Distribution:...

 (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the North Atlantic Mytilus edulis, but is closer to the former. The Chilean mussel could therefore rather be considered to be M. galloprovincialis, or its subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

, Mytilus galloprovincialis chilensis.