Category: Randklev

A Guide for Conservation Conservation status assessment maps are a way to efficiently determine the status of a given species and have been used in conservation assessments by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for rare aquatic species.  In Texas, range maps are available for the 15 state-listed mussel species, but the spatial scale of those…

The Mussel-Host Relationship Almost all of the 300+ species in North America need a host for their larvae to reach the juvenile stage. The host needed for each mussel species is typically a fish, and sometimes only a very specific fish species will work. Many mussel species have complex adaptations that attract their hosts, from…

The need for data Geographic patterns of mussel species distributions, combined with information on the factors that contributed to their endangerment, are necessary for developing effective conservation strategies. For freshwater mussels, specifically those occurring in Texas, distribution information is available, but only at a broad scale, and much of it is based on shell material rather…