March 13, 2012
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the sheepnose and the spectaclecase, two freshwater mussels found in river systems in the eastern half of the United States, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Sheepnose are currently found in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The sheepnose occurs in 25 streams, down from 76, a 67 percent decline. Very few of these populations are known to be reproducing.
The spectaclecase once occurred in at least 44 streams but now occurs in 20 streams, a 55 percent reduction in the number of occupied streams. Of the 20 remaining populations, six are represented by only one or two known specimens each. Spectaclecase mussels are currently found in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
News Release
Information about Sheepnose
Information about Spectaclecase
|
.
