Freshwater mussels are among the most endangered animal groups on Earth — their ecological importance and possible sentience make their conservation and welfare a compelling but often overlooked issue.
Freshwater mussels present an unusual welfare case — animals of uncertain but non-negligible sentience, undergoing population collapse at rates that make them one of the most endangered faunal groups on the planet. Their ecological role — filtering water, stabilising sediments, providing habitat — is enormous relative to their individual profile. The welfare of freshwater mussels is inseparable from the health of the river systems they inhabit: water quality decline, altered flow regimes, and sedimentation all affect their physiological condition and longevity before ultimately causing mortality. Protecting them protects entire freshwater ecosystems and potentially billions of individual animals.