Location:  Coastal waters of eastern Maine, from Frenchman Bay to the Canadian border. Locations and descriptions for station codes used in this dataset can be found in the dataset: MuLTI-2 Mussel Station List

Sampling and Analytical Methodology: 

Size frequencies of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) were measured at three random sample locations at each of the major mussel beds (stations) along the eastern Maine coast from Frenchman Bay to the Canadian border. At each sample location, a 30 cm x 30 cm quadrat was laid down haphazardly in a relatively dense patch of mussels, and the entirety of the quadrat contents harvested (byssal thread matrix and soft-sediment included). If <30 individual mussels were in the quadrat, further samples were taken immediately adjacent to the original quadrat until 30+ mussels had been harvested. The contents of each sample was returned to the lab for careful sorting into 5 mm size class bins. The number of mussels within each size class bin were enumerated and the frequency of each size class in each sample was calculated yielding three frequencies per size class per year per mussel population.

Size Class Frequency was calculated as the Count of Individual Mussels within a particular size class divided by the Total Individual Mussels Sampled within a plot.