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Massive freshwater mussel die-off is ecological mystery
Digital Journal ^ | 12/17/19 | KAREN GRAHAM

Posted on 12/18/2019 9:03:33 AM PST by Rebelbase

Abingdon - The crystal -clear waters of the Clinch River, which meanders southwest across the Virginia-Tennessee border, look clean and healthy. But a mysterious die-off of freshwater mussels in the river has scientists scrambling to find the cause.

{snip}Since 2016, though, the Clinch River has seen 10 of its 56 species of mussels have gone extinct with another 20 species now considered endangered - like the fluted kidneyshell, snuffbox, birdwing pearly mussel, and the shiny pigtoe.

The pheasantshell mussel, once one of the Clinch’s most abundant mussel species, has plummeted by more than 90 percent, from a population estimated to be 94,000 in 2015 to less than 14,000 today. The rest of the various mussel populations have dropped 30 percent, leaving the Clinch River with the highest concentration of endangered aquatic species on the continent,

Die-off is not an isolated problem

The Clinch River mussel die-off is not an isolated incident. Throughout the U.. and Europe, staggering numbers of freshwater mussels are dying off. There have been attempts to figure out the cause, and everything from infectious diseases and climate change to water pollution has been explored.

(Excerpt) Read more at digitaljournal.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2016; clinchriver; freshwatermussels; naturalselection; tennessee; virginia
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To: Rebelbase

Isn’t there an explanation for scrambling scientists covered somewhere in The Far Side?


21 posted on 12/18/2019 9:39:56 AM PST by Cold Heart (.)
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To: babble-on
It was a virus. Only affected one specie.

Good guess... like with frogs.

22 posted on 12/18/2019 10:03:37 AM PST by GOPJ (The impeachment hatefest will be an historical rebuke to corrupt silly liberal 'elites'....)
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To: Yo-Yo

“I wish they could find a way to cause Zebra mussels to die off.”

I remember when the Zebra mussels arrived and everyone predicted doom and gloom. The Niagara River went from brown and muddy and stinky to crystal clear and fresh smelling all the way to the bottom of the river bed below.


23 posted on 12/18/2019 10:13:45 AM PST by BuffaloJack ("Security does not exist in nature. Everything has risk." Henry Savage)
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To: Ken H

It’s Roundup! Everything bad is related to that chemical. I saw it on TV!/S


24 posted on 12/18/2019 10:13:47 AM PST by 9422WMR
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To: Rebelbase

If the water is crystal clear, they may be starving.


25 posted on 12/18/2019 10:42:24 AM PST by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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To: GOPJ

Frogs are many species, and their troubles were linked to a problem with skin bacteria, as I recall.


26 posted on 12/18/2019 10:45:41 AM PST by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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To: Ken H

The worst Mass migration was when Mitt moved to Utah and polluted the Senate


27 posted on 12/18/2019 10:45:54 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
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To: 9422WMR

“It’s Roundup! Everything bad is related to that chemical. I saw it on TV!/S”

No! It’s birth control pills! No, wait! It’s meth labs or moonshine stills! No, no! It’s cattle and chicken hormones and antibiotics! No! It’s coal mine runoff!! That’s it!

I know! I know! It’s Global Warming!!!


28 posted on 12/18/2019 10:47:07 AM PST by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.")
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To: gundog

... If the water is crystal clear, they may be starving.

Zebra mussels are in a boom/bust cycle now in the TVA
Nutrients get skeined out, initially with overpopulation,
then mass starvation


29 posted on 12/18/2019 10:49:21 AM PST by HangnJudge (Kipling was right about Humanity)
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To: bert

Good one!


30 posted on 12/18/2019 10:52:27 AM PST by Ken H
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To: Rebelbase

Not happy about this. Wish they could find what’s causing it and stop it.


31 posted on 12/18/2019 11:27:16 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Pledge: "...and to the Democracy for which it stands..." I give up. Use the democRat meme...)
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To: Rebelbase

Find out what is killing them, then use it on the Zebra mussels and Quagga mussels that are causing havoc in the Great Lakes.


32 posted on 12/18/2019 11:43:44 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Rebelbase

Mussel “larvae” develop in the gills of fish- in other words, they require a host species of fish to propagate.


33 posted on 12/18/2019 12:18:09 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Beagle8U

Sunfish gills are where many mussels are reared before dropping out into the gravel or mud.


34 posted on 12/18/2019 12:20:56 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: bgill

They were dumped out in the bilgewater of foreign ships. After that they moved around with the unwitting aide of sloppy boaters.


35 posted on 12/18/2019 12:22:47 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: piasa

Zebra mussels may develop differently than the native mussels, and not require a fish gill “nursery” - I don’t know about their development.

If they do require it, they may crowd out the gill dwelling stage of other less prolific mussels.

There used to be a huge industry on the Mississippi that harvested its large mussels to make ‘pearl’ buttons. Fortunately for those mussels, plastics came along and those great big mussels rebounded, at least until zebra mussels.


36 posted on 12/18/2019 12:30:43 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: gundog

I think you’re right - but it was a bacteria that only attacked frogs, right?


37 posted on 12/18/2019 12:40:23 PM PST by GOPJ (The impeachment hatefest will be an historical rebuke to corrupt silly liberal 'elites'....)
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To: trisham

https://pages.wustl.edu/mnh/freshwater-mussels-missouri


38 posted on 12/18/2019 12:49:36 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Rebelbase

I am amazed that there are zebra mussels in the TVA lakes, Cherokee as well as Norris.

For those not familiar with the Clinch and Holston rivers in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, mussels were a major food source for the resident Indians. One way archaeologists locate old villages is by the discovery of the large mussel shell middens. Villages were almost always located on the river and there were and in fact still are (or were) lots of mussels. Some are very large say 5 inches or so long.

The Nature Conservancy purchased tracts of river area for mussel preserves. I wonder how these sort of sanctuaries are faring.

One reason for establishing the sanctuaries at least 20+ years ago was the perceived decline in mussel population.


39 posted on 12/18/2019 12:59:04 PM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
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To: GOPJ

It was a bacterium that attacked a different bacterium in their skin fauna, I believe. It was a real puzzle to figure out.


40 posted on 12/18/2019 1:09:43 PM PST by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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