Invasive round gobies may be poised to decimate endangered French Creek mussels

APRIL 1, 2019

by Pennsylvania State University

The round goby—a small, extremely prolific, invasive fish from Europe—poses a threat to endangered freshwater mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania's French Creek, one of the last strongholds for two species of mussels, according to researchers.

French Creek flows from southwest New York state about 117 miles to the Allegheny River at Franklin, Pennsylvania. It is the most species-rich stream in Pennsylvania and is nationally recognized for its biodiversity, with more than 80 species of fish and 29 species of freshwater mussels.

Four of the mussels in French Creek are listed under the Endangered Species Act: northern riffleshell, snuffbox, clubshell and rayed bean. Northern riffleshell and clubshell mussels are considered critically imperiled and have lost 95 percent of their historic global range—but they appear to have stable populations in French Creek.

Continued

To build up mussels, you need to know your fish

February 27, 2018, Michigan State University

Times are tough for 31 of Michigan's 45 varieties of freshwater mussels. Sporting evocative names like wavy-rayed lampmussel and round pigtoe, these residents of the state's rivers are imperiled by habitat disruption and pollution and are also threatened by climate change.

Michigan State University (MSU) scientists' recommendation to figure out the best places to focus conservation efforts: Worry about fish.

In this month's journal Hydrobiologia, researchers say that if you care about those wavy-rayed lampmussels and round pigtoes, then you also must care about Michigan's johnny darters and rosyfaced shiners.

This research group for the first time creates models that acknowledge how tightly the fate of mussels and fish are entwined in the state's ecosystems and helps chart a path for conservation managers to save the mussels. Mussels filter water - a single one can clean up 20-30 gallons a day - as they eat, and excrete nutrients upon which other water organisms can feast. Their shells are important terrain for algae and insect larvae to attach, and mussels are an important food source for some aquatic critters.

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Malaysia's unique freshwater mussels in danger

Date: September 21, 2016

Source: The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

Researchers in Malaysia revealed that Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Another species (Ensidens ingallsianus) may have already gone extinct.

In a ground-breaking study path-breaking for the Southeast Asian region, a research group led by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) revealed that Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Another species (Ensidens ingallsianus) may have already gone extinct. Most native species are severely threatened by ongoing nutrient pollution and acidification of freshwater habitats caused by atmospheric pollution, deforestation, oil-palm plantations and a lack of functioning wastewater treatment particularly in rural areas. As mussels are efficient filter-feeders and provide habitat for smaller organisms such as insect larvae, their loss can lead to algal blooms and further loss of aquatic biodiversity.

An international group of scientists; Dr John-James Wilson and Pei-Yin Ng from University of Malaya; Samuel Walton from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu; Dr Khairul Adha A. Rahim from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; Dr Elsa Froufe and Manuel Lopes-Lima, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Portugal; Professor Ronaldo Sousa from University of Minho, Portugal; Dr Arthur E. Bogan from North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (USA); Dr Suzanne McGowan from The University of Nottingham UK and Dr Alexandra Zieritz from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, who is leading this research, surveyed 155 localities across all states of Peninsular Malaysia for mussels and recorded their environmental requirements. The team spent a total of 30 days in the field, scouring the sandy and muddy beds of Malaysia's rivers and lakes for mussels simply using their hands. Environmental conditions at each location, such as water pH and oxygen concentration, were also recorded. The findings of this study, worth USD 9,262 (RM 38269.19) and funded by The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund , are published in Science of the Total Environment, an international scientific journal.

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Growing mussels: Precious freshwater shellfish are thriving in a unique green project

JAMIE MERRILL

Sunday 25 January 2015

The freshwater pearl mussels of the Lake District have a perilous start to life. Every summer each of the half a million adult mussels on the river Ehen in the wilds of Ennerdale in Cumbria release up to four million larvae. Most of these simply wash out to sea and oblivion, but a few will latch on to the gills of the passing Atlantic salmon or Arctic char who visit the river to spawn.

The tiny mussels, less than a tenth of a millimetre long, will harmlessly “live on the gill” of the fish for up to 18 months as it heads out into the depths of the Atlantic. When the fish finally makes it back to spawn in the river, the mussels drop off to burrow into the clean, sandy and gravelly riverbed and go on, potentially, to live for 100 years. And, like the oyster, freshwater mussels occasionally produce a pearl. Or at least that’s what should happen. A century of habitat degradation, over extraction of water and even poaching, have made its life even more perilous

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Invasive Mussel Not Harmed by Toxins, Invades Freshwaters of Europe, North America

Oct. 3, 2013 — While most freshwater mussels react stressfully and weaken when exposed to the toxins in blue-green algae in their water environment, the little zebra mussel is rather indifferent. It is not affected by the toxins, and this helps it outmatch stressed and weakened mussels, report researchers from the University of Southern Denmark. This is bad for the biodiversity, and in some countries the superior zebra mussels imposes great costs to the industry.

At first glance it looks like good news: Researchers have discovered that the freshwater zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is not damaged from exposure to toxins from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and other toxic substances that could constitute a problem for freshwater mussels. On the contrary, they seem completely unaffected and thus they manage significantly better in a water environment than other freshwater mussels -- and this is what worries the scientists: Many places in Europe the zebra mussels have already outmatched other mussel species and in the U.S. they are so widespread that they pose a threat.

"Zebra mussels live in large colonies in the Great Lakes in the United States, and they are a huge problem. They need something hard to attach themselves to and often they find a suitable surface on the inside of the pipes carrying water from the Great Lakes into factories and other industries along the lake. Often they sit so close that they block the water intake," explains associate professor Claudia Wiegand, who studies environmental stress physiology and aquatic toxicology at the Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark.

Efforts to prevent the zebra mussels from attaching themselves to the pipes and remove those attached have already cost several million dollars.

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