The Fish and Wildlife Service recently protected critical habitat for four species of Endangered mussels. Most of us assume that getting a species listed as Endangered means it will automatically be protected, but in reality it can take years for the agency to designate and protect critical habitat. In the case of these species, it took 6 years and a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity to finally get the agency to act.
Freshwater mussels may be the most threatened group of species in the country, thanks to their high sensitivity to water quality and specialized life cycles. The four species in this particular case were the rayed bean, spectacle case, sheepnose and snuffbox mussels, but all mussel species are filter feeders, meaning that they live on small particles in the water. Filter feeders are beneficial to the health of the waterway, but the process isn’t so good for the creatures themselves – mussels accumulate pollutants in their bodies and are sensitive to poor water quality.
The eastern United States has more species of freshwater mussels than anywhere else in the world, but at least 23 species have already gone extinct. The good news is that protecting mussels and their habitat can also improve the overall health of our waterways. You can listen to Tierra Curry of the Center for Biological Diversity talk about mussels and the recent Fish and Wildlife critical habitat designation here.