At 01:53 PM 1/24/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>If it is an endangered species, it is due to the harvesting for the Asian
>market. At one time, these and other mussels were so plentiful that there
>was a button industry in there here parts. You know---those pearl studs
>men used to wear.
> Not no more.
> There are over 20 species that inhabit the Licking River. I know that
> because---
> Art
The washboard is not a federal endangered species, but a state (Ohio)
endangered species. It's status is largely an artifact. It is a big river
species, just barely making it into Ohio's largest river, the Muskingum
River. But it is often common in the Ohio River. So why is it endangered in
Ohio if it's common in the Ohio River? Because Ohio owns relatively little
of the river - only out a couple of hundred feet. Kentucky and West
Virginia own the lion's share. So the washboard is common just along the
border, but not within the boundaries of the state, therefore it is
endangered within the state. Simple, huh?
The washboard, like most mussels, has taken a beating from habitat loss and
alteration. Harvesting is more localized, and nowadays largely illegal.
By the way, the washboard is the most massive, but not the largest, unionid
in the world as far as I know. The Asian Cristaria plicata (and its various
synonyms) is probably the largest, but thin-shelled. Washboards may have
shells an inch thick.
G. Thomas Watters, PhD
Curator of Molluscs
Museum of Biological Diversity
Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology
The Ohio State University
1315 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212 USA
[log in to unmask]
v: 614-292-6170
f: 614-292-7774
Visit the Mollusc Division at:
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~molluscs/OSUM2
"Let me take you, baby, down to the riverbed,
Gotta tell you something go right to your head" - Spirit
So join the Freshwater Mollusc Conservation Society at:
http://ellipse.inhs.uiuc.edu/FMCS/index.html
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