All of us who study freshwater mussels are eventually asked the same question:

“Can you eat them?”

The frequency with which we are asked that question is helpful for understanding some of our environmental problems: We value what we know how to use.

Which means endangered mussels don’t just need regulatory protection; they need us to value them even when we can’t think of what use they are.

(Image: two dead freshwater mussel shells on the bottom of a sandy lake. I took the photo in Ontario in the summer of 2024.)