UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: Freshwater Mussels

UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: Freshwater Mussels

Freshwater mussels live their life fixed in one spot.

Freshwater mussels, or unionids, are members of the mollusk class Bivalvia, which means they have two shell halves that are connected by a dorsal hinge. This group of filter-feeding molluscs can be found all over the world in temperate to tropical freshwater habitats. Alabama has one of the most diverse freshwater mussel assemblages in the world with 182 species.

Freshwater mussels are ecologically and economically important as they live their life fixed in one spot and feed by filtering the water around them and removing particles like algae, making the water clearer and safer to drink. Mussels also have a very interesting reproductive strategy. Whereas most bivalves live in the sea and have larvae that swim around until they come upon a place to settle, freshwater mussels live in streams that constantly flow in one direction. Thus, they have evolved a somewhat nefarious approach to settle upstream reaches of streams. In some species, females have a modified part of their body that looks like a small fish that wiggles like a lure to attract larger fish. When these hungry fish try to take a bite, the female snaps her shell valves shut trapping the fish and injecting her larvae into its gill chambers. The young mussels are now able to hitch a ride with the fish and re-colonize the upper reaches of streams.

The Marine Invertebrate Collection consists of more than 16,000 lots, the vast majority of which are crustaceans, followed by the molluscs. Most of this collection is housed in bottles of ethanol. The collection is housed in the Mary Harmon Bryant Collections Facility.

Kevin Kocot, assistant professor in the biological sciences department and curator of invertebrate zoology in the Alabama Museum of Natural History, provided the above information.

Contact

Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu