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 ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. South Dakota native John Latendresse was on a cross-country road trip in 1949 when he found himself at Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.

The rivers of northeast Arkansas once teemed with freshwater mollusks capable of producing pearls, which led to a huge "pearl rush" in the region in the late 1800s. The mussels had not been harvested ...

North American freshwater mussels were first recognized for their commercial value in the 1800s by the American button industry. The mussel’s pearly shell was used for buttons while the meaty interior ...