Awesome Update 2

As we mentioned in awesome update 1, there are over 297 recognized taxa of Unionids in North America alone. Since we are not yet mussel experts, we would thus have a hard time telling the difference between mussels in the field. To help solve this identification problem, we visited the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. At the museum, we were taken up to the collection room that is unavailable to the public. This room was more like a warehouse of specimens- cabinets upon cabinets completely full of samples of all types of organisms. In the Unionid section, cabinets were arranged by genus and species and further broken down into geographic regions. We carefully went through the drawers of areas that we are interested in- PA, ME, NY, NC, NJ, Nova Scotia, etc. We photographed samples from different areas so that when we are in the field, we will be able to identify mussel species that are similar in appearance and habitat. Some of the pictures we took are posted below.