Freshwater mussels are among the most endangered animal groups globally and their conservation raises important questions about welfare consideration for sessile invertebrates.
Freshwater mussel welfare sits at the frontier of animal sentience debates. Their simple nervous systems make pain experience in a human-comparable sense unlikely, but their ecological importance means their welfare matters through impact on other species. Mussel population collapse devastates river ecosystems, eliminating the water filtration that supports fish, amphibians, and the wildlife dependent on clean water. From a welfare perspective focused on animal welfare through ecosystem health, freshwater mussel conservation protects the wellbeing of billions of sentient animals dependent on clean rivers. Conservation of mussels is thus indirectly an animal welfare priority.