Critically Endangered
Cumberlandian combshell
Epioblasma brevidens
Cumberlandian combshell is a bivalve in the family Unionidae (order Unionida) — Epioblasma brevidens, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The Cumberlandian combshell is a brown and yellow mussel that is about two inches (5.1 cm) long. Its shell has a yellow and brown film-like coating. The shell also has many green rays on it.
Range and habitat
The Cumberlandian combshell has preferences for medium-sized streams to large rivers and is rarely found in small streams or tributaries. Within these waterways, the combshell is found in coarse sand, gravel, cobble, and boulders. Even though it prefers to be in waters that are three feet deep or less, it is also found in some deeper waters, like Old Hickory Reservoir on the Cumberland River, where the water flow is strong.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The diet of mussels is fairly similar during different developmental stages. Even though bacteria make up an important part of the adult mussels diet, there is no evidence to suggest that it is important for the development of juvenile mussels.
Additionally, adult mussels often feed on phytoplankton, zooplankton, phagotrophic protozoans, and other organic material in the water.
In crisis
Threats to the species have put an immense burden on their populations, that have led the combshells population to dwindle. Populations are limited to 5 rivers as compared to its historic range. Current population sizes are below the effective population size, that threatens genetic diversity.
The small population sizes of the combshell put the species at high risk for extinction. This could threaten the population's ability to adapt to natural or man-made challenges.
Cumberlandian combshell is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Cumberlandian combshell, Wikidata item Q309416. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
