QUB scientists boost endangered mussels

24 Mar 2010 08:22 AM

The prospects for the survival of endangered freshwater mussel species - vital for the health of rivers - has been given a welcome boost by scientists from QUB following a 12-year cultivation project.

"Freshwater mussels are an important part of the ecosystem in many rivers as they filter water keeping it clean and clear," said Conor Wilson, a student at QUB's Quercus Centre. "This improves the environment for other plants and animals, and ultimately, humans."

"Our hope is that eventually, through a programme of breeding and tracking we will be able to see the equilibrium restored in these rivers and bring the levels of mussels back to what they were 100 years ago, before they were affected by a variety of factors including overfishing and habitat degradation."

"Queen's had been working alongside experts at Ballinderry Fish Hatchery in Co. Tyrone since 1998 in order to cultivate these precious but very slow growing mussels,

"They can grow to 17 cm in length and can reach 285 years old, but in Northern Ireland they are currently teetering on the brink of extinction. The only counties the mussels currently exist in are Tyrone and Fermanagh."

Over 300 of the mussels, which are threatened in many parts of Europe and North America, have been released back into the wild at a range of secret locations in Northern Ireland.

And in a novel development, the Queen's conservation scientists will be able to keep tabs on the precious mussels after attaching tags to the outside of their shells. The 'Passive Integrated Transponders' or PIT tags can be located by a receiver much like a metal detector, meaning the researchers can then relocate the animals in the riverbed and monitor each mussel's progress.