Dataset: Shell thickness of mussel recruits quantified in two species, Mytilus trossulus and Mytilus californianus

Recruit Mytilus trossulus mussels were collected from Bob Creek, Oregon. Recruit M. californianus were collected from Bodega Marine Reserve, California and Soberanes Point, California. Recruit mussel shell thickness comparisons were made for approximately 55 mussels per mussel type across the range of mussel sizes given to juvenile N. canaliculata. Mussel tissue was removed by incubating the mussels in 15% H2O2, 0.05 M NaOH with period agitation (Gaylord et al. 2018). The mussel shells were then dried to a constant weight and dry weights were measured on a microbalance. Pictures of the shells were taken using a camera (Leica MC170) attached to a dissecting microscope (Leica M125) and were used to calculate shell area and mussel length. These pictures are in the attached Supplemental File "Mussel Recruit Images.zip". Recruit mussel shell thickness was estimated as the total dry weight of both valves divided by the total projected area of both valves (Gaylord et al. 2018).