Mighty Mussels

They are rather nondescript, sedentary mollusks with hinged shells, but they are important. Mussels are nature’s “cleanup crew” and can help clean up the Potomac River’s water quality, FODMers learned at their February 23, 2025, meeting.

One adult mussel can filter between 10 to 20 gallons of water per day.

Dean Naujoks, the Potomac Riverkeeper, described his organization’s initiative, the 50 Million Mussel Project started in 2019, to restore freshwater mussel populations in the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. For the Potomac, the goal is to restore 50 million by 2030. They will also introduce over 14,000 mussels into the Alexandria waters of the river between 2024 and 2026.

“When the first English settlers arrived on these shores, they were astonished to discover rivers practically paved in freshwater mussels,” reports the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. Seventy percent of mussel species in this country are extinct or at risk of extinction. Of Virginia’s 82 species, only 30 percent are stable.

Mussels can be part of the water quality solution, Naujoks maintains. For more information, visit https://www.potomacriverkeepernetwork.org/50-million-mussel-project/.

Dean Naujoks, Potomac Riverkeeper, discussed the importance of restoring mussels at the FODM meeting. All photos by Glenda Booth except where noted.

Michael Nardolilli, Executive Director of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and Naujoks.

Kurt Moser with the Four Mile Run Conservancy Foundation shared information on mussels in Four Mile Run.

Researchers (here, Matt Ashton) lower cages into the river. The cages contain fish carrying microscopic mussel larvae.

Eastern lamp mussel (Lampsilis radiata)

Species from top to bottm are Eastern floater (Pyganodon cataracta), Eastern pond mussel (Ligumia nasuta), and Eastern elliptio (Elliptio complanate).  Photo by Brent Steury, NPS