A look inside the mussel's monitoring chamber. - EPA courtesy photo by Joel Allen

 Freshwater mussels have always been associated with clean water.  As filter feeders, mussels are considered good biological indicators of water quality. 

Due to their inability to readily leave a contaminated water body, mussels must endure any chemicals that have been released into the water.  Their only mechanism for surviving a short term chemical exposure is by “clamming up”, i.e. closing their shells to avoid the chemical. 

The Minneapolis Water Works and the Environmental Protection Agency have plans to use mussels as a “canary in the coal mine” to ensure safe water in Minneapolis.  To accomplish this monitoring, the EPA had to construct the device that will measure the closing response of mussels when exposed to harmful chemicals. 

The next step was getting enough subadult mussels that were one to two inches in length.  Genoa National Fish Hatchery was contacted last year about providing mussels for this project and agreed to help.  

Last summer Genoa NFH staff inoculated largemouth bass with parasitic mussel larva (glochidia) from the fatmucket mussels, and then placed the inoculated fish in three floating cages in Ice Harbor located in Dubuque, Iowa. 

The three cages produced a total of 1600 mussels.  A portion of these mussels were retained and over-wintered in Dubuque, then harvested this past May.  After undergoing a good scrubbing and a 30-day quarantine to ensure there were no zebra mussels attached, 50 fatmuckets were shipped to the Minneapolis Water Works to report to work. 

On June 20^th, these mussels were placed into the measuring device and started monitoring water quality for the residents of Minneapolis.