The subfossil occurrence of Mytilus edulis in central East Greenland has been CH-dated
to roughly between 8000 B.P. and 5500 B.P.; compared with other areas this is a short
period. Its immigration coincides with the final deglaciation of the innermost fjords, and
its disappearance is contemporaneous with an increase in cold-climate plants, as shown by
pollen spectra. It is suggested that it immigrated from the Svalbard area rather than from
southeast Greenland. and that the central East Greenland fjord zone forms an isolated
oasis, where more southerly species like Mytilus and Chlamys islandica can or could live,
even if this was not possible along the surrounding and more hostile outer coasts. The
reason for the absence of Mytilus edulis from the region today is probably not the local
climate.