Mussels are marked with black dots for easier identification before being stocked. - FWS photo

In partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Genoa National Fish is working to produce mussels to be stocked back into several rivers in order to enhance existing populations. 

To assist in the restoration efforts of Iowa waters, Genoa NFH stocked nearly 1,200 advanced growth mussels (1-5”) of three species (black sandshell, plain pocketbook, and fat mucket) into the Iowa River, in Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 11. 

All mussels were distinctively marked ensuring that they will be recognized as stocked mussels in the future.  This project is just one way Genoa National Fish Hatchery is working with states and other cooperators to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

With names such as the Black Sandshell, Plain Pocketbook, and Fat Mucket, it's a wonder why people don’t know more about native freshwater mussels.  Commonly, mussels are known as clams and when people think of clams, they think of beaches and ocean, not rivers and streams.  Besides the whole freshwater/saltwater difference, freshwater mussels also have quite a different life cycle than their saltwater counterparts.  Freshwater mussels produce thousands of larval mussels called glochidia.  These glochidia must attach to the gills of fish and undergo a metamorphosis in order to become an independent viable individual that will grow and someday make glochidia of its own.

Habitat loss due to pollution, dams, and human impact has caused large declines in mussel populations in most rivers and streams in the United States. Most streams in Iowa have seen drastic declines in their mussel population for the past 50 years.  In recent decades water quality has started to improve and we are seeing some turn around in some rivers and streams in Iowa.