MUSSEL POWER ON FRENCH CREEK
by Deborah Weisberg
Darran Crabtree "noodling" for mussels on French Creek
photo by Deborah Weisberg
(VENANGO TOWNSHIP) - “Noodling” for mussels with Darran Crabtree on French Creek means never seeing a stream bed the same way again.
Though the state’s most ecologically diverse waterway offers some of the best angling in Pennsylvania, its mussel-power is almost hidden. Yet the millions of mollusks---almost indistinguishable from the millions of rocks----are living filters that keep habitat clean.
“They’re fascinating,” says Crabtree, a Meadville-based biologist with the Nature Conservancy, who went wading for mollusks on a recent rainy morning. “A lot of what they do we take for granted.”Crabtree reaches into the water and gently extracts a Kidneyshell from the substrate.
“Many things live on mussels besides algae,” he says. “What we have here is a Caddisfly. Mussels accumulate organic matter and don’t digest it all, so there’s usually a little hot spot…a concentration... of food near its siphon that Caddisflies and other (insects) collect on and benefit from.” A healthy bed of mussels supports a lot of other creatures, he says. “The stream bottom is three-dimensional, with layer after layer of life deep within.” To read complete story, click here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08265/913825-113.stm
by Deborah Weisberg
Darran Crabtree "noodling" for mussels on French Creek
photo by Deborah Weisberg
(VENANGO TOWNSHIP) - “Noodling” for mussels with Darran Crabtree on French Creek means never seeing a stream bed the same way again.
Though the state’s most ecologically diverse waterway offers some of the best angling in Pennsylvania, its mussel-power is almost hidden. Yet the millions of mollusks---almost indistinguishable from the millions of rocks----are living filters that keep habitat clean.
“They’re fascinating,” says Crabtree, a Meadville-based biologist with the Nature Conservancy, who went wading for mollusks on a recent rainy morning. “A lot of what they do we take for granted.”Crabtree reaches into the water and gently extracts a Kidneyshell from the substrate.
“Many things live on mussels besides algae,” he says. “What we have here is a Caddisfly. Mussels accumulate organic matter and don’t digest it all, so there’s usually a little hot spot…a concentration... of food near its siphon that Caddisflies and other (insects) collect on and benefit from.” A healthy bed of mussels supports a lot of other creatures, he says. “The stream bottom is three-dimensional, with layer after layer of life deep within.” To read complete story, click here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08265/913825-113.stm
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