MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Two freshwater mussel species once common in
the eastern U.S. but now found in only a handful of rivers are
going on the federal Endangered Species List. The sheepnose and
spectaclecase mussels will be protected following an agreement
reached last summer between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Biological Diversity.
Under that legal settlement, Fish and Wildlife agreed to
expedite listing decisions on 757 imperiled species by 2017. The
final rule on the mussels was released Monday. "These mussels
have funny names, but their situation is serious _ and so are
the water quality problems facing our country's rivers," said
Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist with the center. With the
listing, both "have a real shot at survival and recovery." The
spectaclecase has been eliminated from 20 of the 44 streams
where it historically lived. Those habitats include parts of the
upper Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. The
sheepnose has been