Threeridge Mussel
Morning sketch: Amblema Plicata, one of the common mussels in the Midwest.
There are about 300 species of mussels native to the freshwaters of North America. They used to keep rivers clear and clean, until we started harvesting them for shirt buttons and pearls.
We harvested so quickly and recklessly most haven’t been able to recover.
We thought their abundance meant they would always be available.
But it turns out their abundance was partly due to longevity, and partly due to a healthy relationship with host fishes, and with healthy terrestrial plant communities that kept soil out of the water. And a number of other factors that we changed without understanding the long-term downstream effects.
A reminder that we all live downstream.
