Tagging Mussels

Today was a great day to tag mussels, a bit rainy and mostly cloudy.  We showed up at 10AM at the research facility along with a downpour.  But things quickly settled down and a routine was established to tag the mussels from Pennsylvania.

They have been in holding tanks all week.

They all had to be scrubbed off.

Then they were taken indoors and tagged and recorded. 



We were able to completely scrub, tag, and record two of the four tanks by the time I had to leave around two. The plan was to tag the other two tanks on Thursday, September 6th. Then, the mussels are to be set in their new homes in the Salt Fork and Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. More information can be found about this wonderful project in a recent News Gazette article.

These mussels include Clubshell (Pleurobema clava) and Northern Riffleshell (Epioblasma rangiana). Can you tell which is which?

No great knowledge was required to help in this stage of the project. There was an abundance of very knowledgeable biologists and students to help with any questions or problems. They were also very willing to share their expertise with the volunteers. It was great to be a part of this project. Thanks for allowing local volunteers of all skill levels to help.