Mussel

Tom works on a mussel farm.

The palace of the Merman King lies in the very deepest part; its walls are of coral and the long pointed windows of the clearest amber, but the roof is made of mussel shells which open and shut with the lapping of the water.

But unlike White-nose syndrome or chytrid disease, in which a single pathogen has wiped out millions of creatures across vast distances, Goldberg does not think a single germ is responsible for all the mussel die-offs.

They’ve actually created a synthetic gel that mimics the mussel’s sticky, self-healing properties.