Conservation Issues and Endangered Species Status
Many of these freshwater mussel species face conservation issues due to habitat degradation and in some cases due to over-exploitation for the freshwater pearl industry, and for the nacre of their shells, which was used in button manufacturing. Of the North American Unionoida about 70% are either extinct (21 species), endangered (77 species), threatened (43 species) or are listed as species of special concern (72 species).
Read more about this topic: Unionoida
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