Freshwater mussels are among the most imperiled groups of animals on Earth, and their welfare in both wild harvesting and aquaculture contexts raises questions at the frontier of invertebrate sentience research.
Freshwater mussels sit at the edge of current animal welfare science. Their capacity for suffering is unknown, and they lack the neural complexity of vertebrates. However, the same precautionary principle that argues for consideration of fish and crustacean welfare suggests that the uncertainty about mussel sentience should at minimum prompt research rather than dismissal. Meanwhile, freshwater mussel conservation is urgent for ecological reasons entirely separate from their welfare, as they are the most endangered group of animals in North America and their extinction would devastate aquatic ecosystems.