Everything about Byssus totally explained
Byssus, plural "byssi", derives from
Hebrew būṣ 'fine linen,'
Aramaic bus,
Greek βύσσος – 'a very fine yellowish
flax and the
linen woven from it',
Latin byssus – 'fine
cotton or cotton stuff', '
silk' and via
New Latin to '
sea silk'.
As may be seen above, the word byssus not only refers to the excretions of seashells, as sometimes assumed, but was originally used for various fine threads and cloths.
- An exceptionally fine and valuable fibre or cloth of ancient times. Originally used for fine flax and linens, its use was later extended to fine cottons, silks, and sea silk.
- The long fine silky s excreted by several mollusks (particularly Pinna nobilis) by which they attach themselves to the sea bed, from which sea silk is manufactured. They range to 6 cm in length.
- The stipe (stem) of certain fungi which are particularly thin and thread-like.
In mussels
Mussels use byssus to attach to rocks and other surfaces. When a mussel's foot encounters a crevice, it creates a vacuum chamber by forcing out the air and arching up, similar to a plumber's plunger unclogging a drain. The byssus, made of
keratin and other proteins, is spewed into this chamber, and bubbles into a sticky foam. By curling its foot into a tube and pumping the foam, the mussel produces sticky threads about the size of a human
hair. It varnishes the threads with another protein, resulting in an adhesive.
Byssus is a remarkable adhesive that's neither degraded nor deformed by water as are synthetic adhesives. This has spurred
genetic engineers to insert mussel
DNA into
yeast cells for translating the genes into the appropriate proteins.
Further Information
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