Texas Fauna Project

Texas Hornshell

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Freshwater mussels have been undergoing a long and steep decline in Texas and elsewhere. Some, such as the Texas hornshell, have even been declared endangered recently. Here, Bob Howells, a long-time fisheries biologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife, describes how competitive bass fishing and commercial tilapia raising were just a couple of the major political and economic pressures that distracted the agency from more focus on mussels.