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Widespread Mussel Die-Offs Worry Scientists

Steve Baragona

   Scientists are scrambling to understand why thousands of dead mussels
   are turning up in several rivers across the United States, including
   one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.

   The rapid decline of the pheasant shell mussel in Appalachia's Clinch
   River may be part of a mass die-off, with consequences for entire
   ecosystems.

   Like White-nose syndrome, which has devastated North American bats, or
   chytrid disease, which has ravaged amphibian populations around the
   world, experts worry that the mussel deaths could be the beginning of a
   widespread species collapse.

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