Freshwater Mussels - Smithsonian Institution
网页Freshwater Mussels. Freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of animals in the world — over 80 species are protected under the Endangered Species Act and >20 species have recently gone extinct. As such, many freshwater mussel species are extremely rare and are often unavailable for research and education purposes.
Mussels: The Muscles of a Healthy Waterway
网页2024年4月25日 · Did you know that a single freshwater mussel can pump and filter between 8 and 15 gallons of water per day? That’s right! Freshwater mussels are some of the most powerful filters we have in our watersheds, and they drastically improve the water quality in their environments.
Flexing the Mussels of Freshwater Rivers | U.S. Fish & Wildlife …
网页2021年7月7日 · North America has the highest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world. America’s Mussels, or clams, are a group of animals so inconspicuous they are often mistaken for rocks. Laying on the bottom of lakes, rivers, and creeks, they rarely move and eat by filtering water for microscopic food particles.
Finding Fascination in Freshwater Mussels - U.S. Fish and Wildlife …
网页In my work as a biologist, I have come to love an unsung hero of the riverbed, freshwater mussels. Mussels are incredibly important to river ecosystems, filtering the water to keep it clean and supporting biodiversity. Some species of mussels can even live up to a century. A Different Kind of Charisma.
Freshwater Mussels - Biological Diversity
网页Freshwater mussels are some of the planet's most fascinating and underappreciated animals. With their beautifully colorful shells, diversity of shapes and interesting adornments — including ridges, bumps and spikes — they've earned intriguing common names like fuzzy pigtoe, purple wartyback, winged spike, fluted elephantear, spectaclecase ...
Freshwater Mussels — what you need to know - American Rivers
网页Freshwater mussels literally breathe water clean. They filter out pollutants and create healthy river habitat for thousands of other animal species. Without them, our rivers would be dirtier and devoid of life. But freshwater mussel populations are crashing. We need to help these important river purifiers before it’s too late.
About Freshwater Mussels - Xerces Society
网页Freshwater mussels are the animals you never knew you couldn’t live without. Like pollinators, freshwater mussels provide vital services that underpin entire ecosystems, but unlike butterflies and bumblebees, these animals are not showy.
Freshwater mussels prefer a diet of stramenopiles and fungi over ...
网页2024年5月25日 · Freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Unionidae) play a crucial role in freshwater river environments where they live in multi-species aggregations and often serve as long-lived benthic ecosystem...
Conservation and Restoration of Native Freshwater Mussels
网页2020年4月14日 · Freshwater mussels are the most imperiled group of animals in North America, with 66% of species at risk. Mussel populations are declining globally, but the factors contributing to these declines are largely unknown.
North American freshwater mussels: natural history, ecology, and ...
网页Interest in freshwater mussels is growing for two important reasons. First, freshwater mussels are among the most endangered organisms on Earth, and many species are already extinct or face imminent extinction. Their desperate conservation plight has gained intense interest from natural resource agencies, nongovernmental conservation ...