Canaries of the Deep: The Plight of the Freshwater Mussel

Narrator: From their homes on the bottom of the river freshwater mussels tell us much about our water. 
Just as yellow canaries warn coal miners of contaminated air, freshwater mussels warn us of water 
problems.

Russell the Mussel: Hi. I'm Russell the Mussel. I have many relatives thorughout the world but 
unfortunately, almost half of the nearly 300 species of freshwater mussels in North America are 
extinct or endangered. Many experts consider us to be the most endangered group of animals in 
North America.

Narrator: Despite a simple outward appearance. Mussels are complex creatures. They have a kidney, 
stomach, intestine, intake and outtake apertures, gills, a foot, a mantle and a heart. They can 
discern changes in light and temperature. Adult mussels live semi-buried in the bottoms of creeks, 
rivers, and lakes. They are filter feeders, they siphon microscopic particles from the water taking 
them for their food. A four ounce mussel can siphon two quarts of water per hour. Larger mussels can
pump gallons of water per hour.
Mussels eat by filtering microscopic plants and animals from the water. They spit the undigested 
food particles called mucus plugs back into the water. Fish eat these tasty plugs. Fish and mussels
have a symbiotic relationship.

Russell the Mussel: We need each other. We provide food for fish and fish help us carry out our 
reproductive process.

Kurt Welke: It's spring time. The male mussel is up stream from the female mussel. He releases
his sperm into the water and through some mysterious way the female can actually identify 
and recognize that as the genetic contribution of her species. She gets fertilized internally. 
She produces eggs which are then shifted in her body to the outside edge of her gills which is 
called the marsupium, or brood pouch. These mature into these little things called glochidia. 
The female pocketbook will produce a lure. A fish imitation that has the right size and the 
right silouette, the right colorization to imitate a minnow.And she can wave it. 
She can make this thing have motion. When that fish tugs at that lure, what it is like, 
its like a mouse hitting the cheese on a mouse trap. Essentially, the fish springs the trap. 
The female then expels her young, these glochidia, directly into the face and gills of the 
host fish.

Narrator: If the glochidia are lucky enough to attach to the host fish's gills or fins, they 
survive for many weeks were they home at the river bottom. A tiny fraction of juvenile  mussels 
survive to this stage. It takes juvenile mussels from 2-9 years to mature and reproduce.
Some species of mussels may live sixty or more years if conditions are right.

Russell the Mussel: I bet you didn't know that we have been part of our aquatics long before humans 
began recording history.

Scott Gritters: Native Americans used mussels extensively. You can imagine they made knives out of 
mussel shells because if you think about it, a mussel is a lot lighter to carry around then a
knife made out of rock or shale. They also used them for a food resource. 
We still on the Mississippi River today find piles that Native Americans used for food. 
We find pearls they used for ornaments and we find those that were maybe used for trading 
and other things. To Indians, mussels were heavily used.

Narrator: Historians say that in 1891, a German button maker, Johann Boppel, cut his foot on a mussel
shell while bathing in an Illinois river. Thinking the shells would make beautiful buttons, 
he established the first freshwater pearl button company in Muscatine, Iowa. Soon the pearl 
button business was booming. more than 900 button collectors searched the bottom of the 
Mississippi River for mussels during the hey day of the mussel industry and harvested them 
as if there was no tomorrow. By the 1940s, the plastic button brought the freshwater pearl 
button industry to a halt. In the 1960s, the use of mussel shell produced cultured pearls demand. 
Freshwater mussel shells are cut into squares and made into small beads used as seeds. 
Oysters sense these seeds as invaders and make pearls to protect themselves. An oyster 
makes a pearl in several years, depending on the quality of pearl desired.

Narrator: Laws have improved to limit mussel harvest, however in many cases, beds were decimated. 
Over harvesting and poor water quality limited the mussels ability to reproduce fast enough. 
Environmental factors have hurt freshwater mussels the most. Because mussels are filter 
feeders, any contaminant in the water is a danger to the mussel. Run off from urban areas,
construction sites and agricultural fields contain nutrients, toxins, pesticides and 
herbicides. All of which can harm mussels and host fish. Fish kills not only destroy 
all of the fish in the area but also mussels and all other organisms living there. 
Lock and Dam systems built for navigation, have changed sections of the Upper Mississippi 
River from free flowing waters to series of lake like pools. Most mussels require flowing 
water to feed and reproduce. When the current is stopped or slowed, the habitat for most 
mussel species is forever altered. Locks and Dams also hinder fish migration. If 
fish cannot easily move between pools on the river, they cannot reach mussels to serve 
as hosts. Low head or mill dams also limit fish movement on interior rivers. When fish 
can't migrate, the hitch-hiking glochida can't move to other parts of the river can't 
move either. Thousands of low head damns exist in the midwest. Many serve no useful 
purpose. in some locations, removal of these dams restored water movement.

Narrator: The latest threat to the mussel is the invasion of exotic species. For example,
the zebra mussel, native of eastern Europe, first entered the Great Lakes as a stowaway inside 
ballast tanks in tanker ships. Referred to as the aquatic killer bee, zebra mussels reproduce 
very quickly. They attach to almost any surface including intake pipies, boats and even freshwater 
mussels.

Kim Bogenschutz: Once they got to the Mississippi River they attach on to anything the bottom rocks,
plants, barges and that's how they moved up and down the river.They were first discovered 
Mississippi River and in one year they were border to border. They expand very rapidly. 
One adult female can produce one million eggs. Zebra mussels don't require a fish host like 
most of our native mussels do. They just release theirs into the water. They have nothing 
here that controls them and they start piling up on our native mussels. Killimng them attaching 
to vegetation all the little minute invertebrates zooplankton out of the water that small fish
normally eat disrupting the whole food chain that way.

Narrator: Additional exotic species invaders are finding theor way to our waters. potential 
impact to our freshwater mussels are unknown at this time.

Russell the Mussel: What is currently being done to help me and other freshwater mussels?

Narrator: An effort is underway to help the endangered Higgins Eye recover. Due to the habitat 
loss, declining water quality, and competetition with zebra mussels, this mussel is in 
serious danger of becoming extinct. In the fall of 2001, biologists from several states and 
federal agencies, gathered in Iowa City, Iowa to inoculate fish with glochidia from the 
Higgins Eye mussel. They hope the host fish will carry the glochidia into the river where 
they will mature, drop off and survive long enough to begin reproducing. this is the last 
approach to save this mussel species.It is not yet known if it will be successful.


Russell the Mussel: Here are some things you can do to help me and my family freshwater mussels.

Narrator: We can work to improve the water quality and the habitat of rivers and lakes where 
mussels live. Buffer strips between bodies of water and forested land help reduce siltation 
and prevent harmful toxins from reaching the water. these green belts are beneficial to the
country and in the city. Utilization of good soil conservation practices stop excess amounts
of sediment from building up on the bottoms of lakes and rivers and smothering mussels.
Terraces and contours help stop soil erosion. Stenciling of storm drains is another way
of the mussels habitat. When you see the stencil, you remember that what goes down the 
storm drain such as chemicals ends up in the river.

Narrator: We must stop the spread of exotic invaders. Boating is the main spread of zebra
mussels from one location to another. Always drain all water from your boat, the motor 
and trailer before moving to another river or lake. Wash everything with hot water and 
let it dry for at least four days.

Kurt Welke: If everybody understands, if everybody participates, many hands make light work. 
We've got a great track record. We've done it for bald eagles, we are doing it for 
other large fauna but we can apply that same will to the small things that are kinda 
out of sight and out of mind.

Funding for this program made possible by the generous support of:
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Upper Mississippi River NWFR
Sport Fish Restoration
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Aquatic Education Program
National Audubon Society
Upper Mississippi River Campaign
26 Exchange Street
Suite 110, St. Paul,
Minnesota 55101
Phone 651.290.1695
www.audubon.org

Technical Support, Video Footage, and Photographs By:
Karen Aulwes - Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Dr. Chris Barnhart
Department of Biology
Southwest Missouri State University

Kim Bogenschutz
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Cedar Valley Resource
Conservation and Development Inc.

Kevin Cummings
Curator, Illinois Natural History Survey

Mike Davis
of Natural Resources

Conservation and Development, Inc.

Barb Giger
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Scott Gritters
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Marian Havlik
Malacological Consultants
la Cross, Wisconsin

Richard Hubbard
Nova Southeastern University
Dania Beach, Florida

Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Iowa Chapter of

Iowa State University

Iowater

Jeff Janvrin
Mississippi River Habitat Specialist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Limestone Bluffs
resource Conservation and Development, Inc.

Michigan Sea Grant

Muscatine Art Center, Iowa

Office of the State Archeologist
University of Iowa

Kelly Poole

Dr. Bill Roston
Photgrapher
Southwest Missouri State University

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service

Kurt Welke
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Wisconsin River Alliance

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Geode Resource Conservation and Development, Inc.
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