A Central Michigan University graduate student could upend some of our assumptions about an important freshwater mollusk after playing in the mud. Aaron Vlasak was updating a 40-year inventory of ...

In Massachusetts, common blue mussels may not have the star power of Wellfleet oysters or the charisma of quahogs. But like all shellfish they play an important role in marine ecosystems. Mussels are ...

A Central Michigan University senior put his natural outdoors skills to use, leading a research team assessing the status of a population of critical freshwater critters. What Aaron Vlasak learned ...

This story was originally published August 2017. Maybe collecting shells is a favorite pastime of yours, but you don’t know which is a moon snail and which is a mud snail. Or, you’re walking along the ...

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 ...