Do Fish Preferentially Associate with Gravid Mussels?

Elaine Langone Center, Terrace Room

Freshwater mussels in the bivalve family Unionidae are understudied in the Susquehanna River watershed. Mussels have interesting reproductive requirements: many require their larval young to associate with a fish host in order to grow. Host attraction strategies have been documented by gravid female mussels, but little is understood about their effectiveness. Our study was designed to explore the relationship between the mussels and their hosts. Both known and suspected fish host species of the yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) were introduced into simple Y-maze tanks with gravid female mussels present. We recorded the behavior of both the fish and the mussels; specifically, we measured the time the fish spent in proximity to the mussel. This pilot study did not find an association between the fish behavior and the presence of the mussel. We suspect that expanding the sample size may reveal most specific information about any host-attraction strategy used by this species.