"The first wave of dead mussels washed ashore on July 14th, possibly earlier but this was the first report we received. I took the pictures included in my LEO observation on July 16th, and the temperatures were only just then beginning to climb into the upper 70s and lower 80s."

Massive amounts of the mussels clinging to the rocky shores and cliffs of the Bodega Marine Reserve were cooked in the June heat wave.