Louisiana Pearlshell Mussel Propogation!

Louisiana pearlshell mussel propogation is what’s hot right now at Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery!  Currently Tony Brady, the mussel propogation biologist at the hatchery has forty tanks of aquaria, each with a different species of river fish that potentially may be exposed to the glochidia of the LA pearlshell.  He is testing these fish to see if they indeed can be successful hosts for these endangered mussels.  So far, there have been a few positive results, but they are few and far between.  The fishs’ gills must be looked at under a microscope in order to see whether or not glochidia is present.  There is also sometimes glochidia from another mussel called the pigtoe.  Parasites have been observed on the fish gills as well.  Brady also has two field sites, one in Rapides parish and another in Grant parish where he is doing his research.  Any mussels that are retrieved from these waters for research purposes are returned to their native home within twenty-four hours, and males are never removed at all because they do not release glochidia.  Once the glochidia is released from the females, it attaches itself to the gills of a host fish.  The means in which the glochidia gets onto the gills is still uncertian, but it is most likely due to the fish either eating the “structure material” or by breathing in the water across the pharyngial gills, which then allows the immature mussels to clamp onto the gills after they are exposed to the concentration of sodium nitrate, present in the gills of these fish.  The immature musself will then underdo a metamorphosis while on the gills and will then drop off.  These mussels will then continue to grow until they are adult mussels.  Many mussel species undergo this process of maturation, not just the Louisiana pearshell.  Every week, the intensive research being done at the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery and at the two field sites previously mentioned is producing new evidence, which will be able to be applied to conservation efforts to protect this species by increasing their numbers and giving science insight on their reproduction.  Hopefully one day fairly soon the endangered Louisiana pearlshell mussel will no longer be endangered.