What do mussels eat?

What Do Mussels Eat?

What do freshwater mussels eat? • Fish, turtles, leaves? No - freshwater mussels eat microscopic plants and animals called plankton • They also eat bacteria and detritus (dead plant and animal pieces) suspended in the water.

How do freshwater mussels eat? • Freshwater mussels do not hunt or search for their food; they wait for it to come to them • Freshwater mussels filter feed by sucking water in through a siphon (kind of like a little hose) • Water passes over gills where food particles get filtered out and carried by little hairs called cilia to the mouth