Long before pollution, dams and dredging threatened freshwater mussels living in Indiana rivers and streams, the mollusks faced another devastating menace: Fashion. A nearly insatiable demand for ...

A new study suggests that 6000-years-ago people across Europe shared a cultural tradition of using freshwater mussel shells to craft ornaments. An international team of researchers, including ...

Freshwater mussels are some of the planet's most fascinating and underappreciated animals. With their beautifully colorful shells, diversity of shapes and interesting adornments — including ridges, ...

North American freshwater mussels were first recognized for their commercial value in the 1800s by the American button industry. The mussel’s pearly shell was used for buttons while the meaty interior ...

Elevated concentrations of strontium, an element associated with oil and gas wastewaters, have accumulated in the shells of freshwater mussels downstream from fracking wastewater disposal sites.

An unlikely collaboration between archaeologists desperate to put names to shells at Mayan dig sites and an ichthyologist led to the first molecular study of Mexican and Central American freshwater ...