But while alien aquatic species are making themselves at home and multiplying like crazy, some native aquatic species aren't having the same luck. Two-thirds of the freshwater mussel species in the United States are in trouble, according to The Nature Conservancy. Seventy species (saltwater and fresh) are endangered.
"So what," you say. I only care about mussels marinara.
True, saltwater mussels do make good eating, but the freshwater kind have a value too because they spend their lives filtering river water. Nature's little cleaner-uppers they are - where the water quality is good, that is. The problem is, we're still polluting our rivers with municipal and industrial effluent, and wastes and runoff from agriculture, construction and other human activities. Native mussels also are losing the competition for ecosystem space to invaders like the highly prolific little zebra mussel.
Mussels aside, there is a crab that is having a hard time of it in the United States. The horseshoe crab. Big guy, this crab. Found along the Atlantic Coast. Looks kinda like an old Army helmet with a pointed tail. Turn one over and you'll see a bunch of ugly lookin' legs. If you turn a live one over, it'll use its tail to right itself. You can tell when one has done this - you'll see a bunch of slits in the sand where it pushed its tail while trying to turn over. Anyway, catch them on the sound-side beaches in spring when they are laying eggs and you'll see hundreds. Well, you used to see hundreds. Fishermen are overharvesting them for bait, which is bad for the birds that feast on the crabs' smaller-than BB-size blue-green eggs. Crab's blood also has value in medical research.
Around the world, seahorses aren't faring any better than mussels or horseshoe crabs. A fifty percent decline in some sea horse populations over five years (20 million a year) has scientists and seahorse fishermen worried. Fishermen are worried because their livelihood depends on catching seahorses and selling them either for collectors who quickly kill them in captivity (bad food, disease), or to the Chinese medicine business.
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