AUSTIN, Texas— Following a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized protections today for seven Texas species of freshwater mussels.
The Texas pimpleback, Guadalupe orb, Texas fatmucket, Guadalupe fatmucket, false spike and Balcones spike were protected as endangered, and the more widely distributed Texas fawnsfoot as threatened.
“These mussels filter yucky organic gunk from rivers and keep Texas waters clean for all manner of life, including people,” said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center. “Even if these mussels weren’t vital to their freshwater ecosystems and quietly helpful to humanity, they’re fascinating animals that deserve to survive into the future.”
The Service also designated 1,577.5 miles of rivers and creeks in the Brazos, Colorado and Guadalupe river basins as critical habitat for the mussels. The Endangered Species Act prohibits federal agencies from issuing permits or granting funds for actions that would destroy or harm critical habitat areas.
Freshwater mussels are sensitive to declining water quality and increasing water temperatures, and some species cannot survive where dams have halted flowing waters and created pools or reservoirs. These mussels are disappearing because of pollution, sediment, diversions, dams and development, as well as the droughts, heat waves and violent floods caused by global warming.
Because mussels cannot swim, their previously widespread distribution was maintained through their relationship with host fish who carry the juveniles upstream on their gills. After the mussels grow sufficiently large, they drop off the fish’s gills to begin life on their own on the river bottom. But when native fish become rare, the mussels decline too.
These seven mussel species waited for between 16 and 17 years to receive protection and were only protected after a lawsuit by the Center. While the Service is supposed to within two years protect species that are known to be heading towards extinction, imperiled plants and animals are often stuck waiting years or decades for life-saving protections.
