Last updated: January 20, 2025
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Remarkable, Boring Mussels: Why Scientists Take Photos of Them Anyway
Freshwater mussels help keep our waterways clean, among other benefits. But many mussel species are highly imperiled. Photo documentation is an important part of the work to rescue them.
Image credit: © Monte McGregor.
Freshwater mussels may seem pretty boring. They look like nothing more than river rocks. They barely move throughout their lives. They’re not the kind of mussel most Americans eat. They usually don’t have a freshwater pearl. But look beneath that shell, and even if you don’t find a pearl, you’ll find a creature that filters contaminants, recycles nutrients, and even records climate data. Unfortunately, freshwater mussels are some of the most imperiled animals on the planet. In North America, nearly two-thirds of species are at risk. The main reasons for this are pollution and habitat loss from dams, mining, and other human activities.
Protected areas like Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Kentucky and Tennessee have some of the most diverse groups of native freshwater mussels in the world.
Freshwater mussel diversity is highest in the southeastern U.S. due to the region’s origins and geology. Protected areas like Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Kentucky and Tennessee have some of the most diverse groups of native freshwater mussels in the world. Nonetheless, the park’s mussels are still threatened by issues that stem from outside its borders, like habitat fragmentation, environmental contaminants, and climate change.
The National Park Service’s Appalachian Highlands Network is teaming up with external partners and staff in parks like Big South Fork to address mussel decline. They’re aiding some of the most at-risk mussel populations through hatchery rearing, restoration, and reintroductions. They’re doing this in partnership with the State of Kentucky’s Center for Mollusk Conservation.
Part of that work involves documenting, in pictures, the unseen world of these creatures. This helps scientists understand species under changing conditions across sites and years. Monte McGregor is a malacologist (mollusk scientist) and director of the Center for Mollusk Conservation. He’s also a photographer. This picture gives a glimpse of the work at the heart of the network’s project. It shows a scientist taking one last photo with a mussel before it gets tucked back into the streambed. The green tag on the mussel’s shell indicates that it spent the beginning of its life in the lab.
After about a decade of this restoration work, mussel populations might be able to sustain themselves.
The scientists behind the project hope that after about a decade of this restoration work, mussel populations might be able to sustain themselves. This could make all the difference for some mussel species that are endemic to the area. And healthier mussel populations mean healthier aquatic ecosystems for wildlife and people.
Want more information about this project or McGregor’s pictures? Check out “Mussel-Building with the Appalachian Highlands Network: Science and Snorkeling to Protect Imperiled Freshwater Mussels.”
Olivia Porter is a Scientists in Parks science communication intern with the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Division. Photo courtesy of Olivia Porter.