This species, along with other mussel species, has been decimated from its habitat by sedimentation, dredging, chemical pollution, and overharvesting for pearls and buttonmaking. The discovery of this species as noted demonstrates the active role of Science Museum staff in conjunction with other agencies to detect, protect, propagate, and conserve biological resources wherever they are to be found – perhaps in the backyard of the Science Museum.

This specimen is one of the first three of this federally endangered species I found in the St. Croix River at Marine on St. Croix. This location was the first site known for this species north of Stillwater, Minnesota. This subsequently sparked the interest of other researchers from Wisconsin and Minnesota to further explore the St. Croix River and discover more of another species(Monodonta cumberlandia) that I had discovered which had not been officially recorded early from Minnesota and also finding another mussel, the Winged Maple Leaf (Quandrula fragosa) near Taylor’s Falls. This species is currently known to certainly exist only in a 10 mile stretch of the river near that site.
– Dick Oehlenschlager, Biology