News

Recently, a woman who lives on the Neuse reached out to Sound Rivers regarding the appearance of a lot of mussels in the river over the past two summers — she was concerned they are an invasive species. Sound Rivers reached out to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, who then hooked us up with an expert on mussels: Arthur E. Bogan, Research Curator of Mollusks at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. Sound Rivers’ staff scientist Katy Hunt then transported the mussels to his lab in Raleigh.

Dr. Bogan identified the mussels as Dark Falsemussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeta, Dreissenidae, a native species occurring in brackish water along the North Carolina coast — not the invasive Mytilidae or Zebra Mussels.

Thanks, Dr. Bogan, for helping us solve that mystery!

If you have questions about aquatic life in local waterways, we’ll do our best to find the answers!