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Story: Seaweed

Mussel spat attached to seaweed

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Mussel spat attached to seaweed

Seaweed that washes ashore along Ninety Mile Beach, Northland, is often covered in tiny shellfish. Known as spat, they are the juvenile stage of green-lipped mussels – the main shellfish grown in aquaculture farms in New Zealand. The tiny shellfish are attached to this mass of cast-up seaweed.

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NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Seaweed – Modern uses and future prospects, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4611/mussel-spat-attached-to-seaweed (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.