03-10-2014, 10:38 PM
I've never tried eating them, but I definitely think they're cool animals. Their close ties to fish and their sensitivity to pollution make them pretty good indicators of the health (or lack thereof) of a river.
I do know that freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of species in the US, with something like 3/4 of the species listed as threatened or endangered in one way or another (or extinct...). So I always put them back when I find them. There's no endangered ones in Idaho, and the IDFG website (as per the link posted earlier) seems to imply that they're legal to harvest (don't take my word on that...), but most places/states discourage it, and if you harvest the wrong ones you can get in some deep doo doo...
Anyway, long story short, it's safer to put them back, but if you do choose to harvest them, best do your homework first to make sure it's ok to do so. Sounds like they don't taste that good anyway though, so I'm not really sure what the point would be...
Oh and did I mention that mussels were pretty cool animals? In order to reproduce, their larvae must attach to the gills of a fish for a while (doesn't hurt the fish (so say the humans...)). In order to get their larvae onto the fish gills, some mussels have devised some pretty clever fishing lures. Here's a link with some interesting pictures and videos: [url "http://unionid.missouristate.edu/"]http://unionid.missouristate.edu/[/url]
And a video if you're not into clicking on links...
edit: I don't think the video embed thingy is working so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0YTBj0WHkU
[signature]
I do know that freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of species in the US, with something like 3/4 of the species listed as threatened or endangered in one way or another (or extinct...). So I always put them back when I find them. There's no endangered ones in Idaho, and the IDFG website (as per the link posted earlier) seems to imply that they're legal to harvest (don't take my word on that...), but most places/states discourage it, and if you harvest the wrong ones you can get in some deep doo doo...
Anyway, long story short, it's safer to put them back, but if you do choose to harvest them, best do your homework first to make sure it's ok to do so. Sounds like they don't taste that good anyway though, so I'm not really sure what the point would be...
Oh and did I mention that mussels were pretty cool animals? In order to reproduce, their larvae must attach to the gills of a fish for a while (doesn't hurt the fish (so say the humans...)). In order to get their larvae onto the fish gills, some mussels have devised some pretty clever fishing lures. Here's a link with some interesting pictures and videos: [url "http://unionid.missouristate.edu/"]http://unionid.missouristate.edu/[/url]
And a video if you're not into clicking on links...
edit: I don't think the video embed thingy is working so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0YTBj0WHkU
[signature]