Can mussel spawns be manipulated?

[Danno]

I remember a week or two ago when I was collecting water from the middle of a lake, I noticed the mussels at the shore had respawned everytime I came back. Lately I haven't noticed them respawning by going a minimap away and returning. In a less precise manner, travelling around the lake seems to ensure they'll respawn around the lake by the next time I loop around. My exploration is 50 and perception is 44. Sometimes it seems like they don't spawn on one end of the lake if they're all in a clump at the other side. They also don't seem to like spawning near other players?

Is there a way to predict and/or manipulate mussel spawns, or have my past experiences been a coincidence? If they can be manipulated, is that a bug?

[DigDog]

Not a bug, no manipulation. My guess would be that at 50x44 you're just not able to see all of the mussels that are around you, so when you come around a second time the stats will be rerolled and you see different mussels.

[Phizuol]

Not a bug, no manipulation. My guess would be that at 50x44 you're just not able to see all of the mussels that are around you, so when you come around a second time the stats will be rerolled and you see different mussels.

This realization dawned on me just yesterday. When I first used to hunt mussels I could swing around a lake several times and keep finding mussels in the same spot. I thought that mussel spawns worked differently than basically anything else in the game. It seemed to me, though, that this had changed recently as I wasn't seeing rapid respawns... but now was seeing more mussels than I used to back then overall.

That's when it dawned on me... duh, I just couldn't see them all back then. DOH.