Meet the Mussel Strike Team!
Biologists from the Lower Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office teamed up with multiple offices and regions in a new collaboration to survey the Rappahannock River for freshwater mussels. Service divers were assisted by staff and volunteers from various fisheries offices, ecological services, refuges, and the Virginia Department of Natural Resources (VA DNR) to staff a newly developing Mussel Strike Team (MST).
The MST was able to cover approximately 30 miles of river and systematically sample for mussels. The data will later be analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey to learn more about the populations in the river. Divers found various freshwater mussel species, including the tidewater mucket (Atlanticoncha ochracea), a vulnerable species that is native to coastal areas of the Atlantic Slope. Cool finds!
Biologists Zy Biesinger and Kyle Morton holding a Tidewater Mucket (Atlanticoncha ochracea). Photo credit: Ryan Hagerty/USFWS
