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On 5/16/2014 4:33 PM, nancy dowd wrote:
> "None" means I saw no living specimens.
* they'd be buried out of sight at this time of year. Mussel sampling
protocols require a water temperature >14C to be sure the mussels are up
at the surface.
fred.
=========================================================
> On 2014-05-16, at 4:59 PM, Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca> wrote:
>
>> On 5/16/2014 1:06 PM, David McCorquodale wrote:
>>> Muskrats are important predators of freshwater mussels in eastern North
>>> America, including NS. Often they pile shells in middens.
>>>
>>> In Blacketts Lake and Pottle Lake in CBRM piles of shells of several
>>> species of freshwater mussels, including the Yellow Lamp Mussel, are
>>> obvious.
>>
>> * these URLs just took me to a general flckr site, not to the individual photos.
>>
>> Muskrats and Beavers can process astonishing numbers of mussels, and often leave the shells quite undamaged - and nonhuman mammals, with weak connections of cultural memory can "discover" a food source and use it to depletion for one generation with the descendents never learning about it, giving the prey time to build up to high density.
>>
>> Freezing or anoxia can kill mussels, though they'd die buried in the substrate, and wouldn't be expected to be on the beach this early - also low water levels can cause mass mortality. Without being able to see the pictures, I can't say what species these are, but if they're Anodonta or Pyganodon "Floaters" the light-weight shells would be more likely to work loose from the substrate and blow onto a lee shore.
>>
>> fred.
>> ==============================================
>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 1:35 PM, nancy dowd <nancypdowd@gmail.com
>>> <mailto:nancypdowd@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Water levels have dropped just enough on L Torment to show about 6"
>>> of beach in places now but the shore has been completely submerged
>>> since last October. The number of mussel shells seen in these
>>> pictures is unusual:
>>>
>>> At the end of the path they are visible as far as you can see out
>>> into the water:
>>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/92981528@N08/14196083311/
>>>
>>> And it is this way the whole way along the shore. Another view 40'
>>> along the submerged beach:
>>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/92981528@N08/14012727849/
>>>
>>> This side of the lake has the prevailing onshore winds and waves and
>>> the shells are starting to collect in the exposed pockets:
>>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/92981528@N08/14199406975/
>>>
>>> Why so many empty mussel shells? Would the winter somehow have been
>>> hard on them- ice or cold or oxygen levels? Doesn't look like
>>> predation to me- too many shells. This is the first year I have ever
>>> seen anything like this.
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>>> Nancy
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
>> Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
>> Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/
>> study our books - http://pinicola.ca/books/index.htm
>> RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
>> on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
>> (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
--
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/
study our books - http://pinicola.ca/books/index.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
------------------------------------------------------------
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