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 ...

South Dakota native John Latendresse was on a cross-country road trip in 1949 when he found himself at Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. Looking out at the divers combing the fertile lakebeds for mussels to ...

POWHATAN, AR - Fresh water mussels may be small, but they play a big part in the history of Arkansas. "We have one of the most richest mussel histories certainly in the United States," Catherine Jones ...

The Alabama pearlshell mussel, a small, endangered mollusk found in a just a few creeks in south Alabama, which can outlive many humans, is getting some protection. The Alabama Department of ...

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 ...

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We Southern girls love our pearls. Sure, gemstones are awesome with glitz and glamour, but the understated luxury of pearls reeks of class and stature. Women in the South have long treasured that look ...

CAMDEN, Tenn. (WKRN) — Did you know that one of nature’s most beautiful gemstones, the freshwater pearl, is the official state gem of Tennessee? That’s because the only freshwater pearl farm in North ...

A team of divers combed the murky bottom of southern Minnesota's Cedar River this week to find out if some of the water's most unique and important animals have been able to survive. The Department of ...

Researchers have discovered that 6000-years-ago people across Europe shared a cultural tradition of using freshwater mussel shells to craft ornaments. A new study suggests that 6000-years-ago people ...