Tubercled - Blossom Pearly Mussel and 7 of Its Friends

 


The Tubercled-Blossom Pearly Mussel was one of 11 species of freshwater mussel to be officially declared extinct barring any reports with 55 days.  

This mussel was once very abundant in all rivers in the eastern U.S., especially in the Ohio River.  The biggest obstacles that the Tubercled-Blossom Pearly Mussel could not overcome was the turbidity (lack of water clarity) and the increased sediment in the waterways they called home, mostly from deforestation and farming along the rivers.  The addition of dams and pollution added to the mussel's fate.

These mussels require relatively calm waters to fertilize their eggs.  Once the eggs hatch the female releases the larvae into the water.  The babies drift through the water.  If they manage to attach to the gills of a host fish, they will develop and grow into an adult.

Once they reach a certain size, they release from the fish's gills and settle to the bottom of the river and can live there for 50 years.

The last specimen was found at Kanawha Falls, West Virginia in 1969 where its species entered the "pearly" gates.

Additional Resources:

http://passengerpigeon.org/SpeciesAtRisk_doc-foto/mussels.html 

https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/clams/tuber_fc.html

All Mussels Now Extinct according the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service which says, "Eight species of freshwater mussels – Reliant on healthy streams and rivers with clean, reliable water, freshwater mussels are some of the most imperiled species in the U.S., home to more than half of the world’s species of freshwater mussels. Mussels proposed for delisting due to extinction are all located in the Southeast, America’s biodiversity hot spot for freshwater mussels.  They are the: flat pigtoe (Mississippi), southern acornshell (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee), stirrupshell (Alabama), upland combshell, (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee), green-blossom pearly (Tennessee, Virginia), turgid-blossom pearly mussel (Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas), yellow-blossom pearly mussel (Tennessee, Alabama) and the tubercled-blossom pearly mussel(Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, southern Ontario, Canada)." 

Mussels in the Wild Animated Short (video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QahiUJ-JlF8









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