Freshwater mussels are among the most endangered animal groups globally. Their decline represents both a conservation crisis and raises questions about invertebrate welfare.
Freshwater mussel welfare sits at the uncertain frontier of invertebrate sentience. While the evidence for complex conscious experience in bivalves is limited, their welfare significance in terms of population conservation is enormous — losing freshwater mussel populations removes ecosystem engineers that maintain water quality for countless other species. From a welfare perspective, the question of whether individual mussels experience suffering is less resolved than for vertebrates, but the ecosystem welfare implications of their decline for fish, amphibians, and other water-dependent species are clear. Habitat restoration, pollution reduction, and dam management that restores host fish passage are the primary conservation and welfare interventions.