Freshwater mussels are among the most imperiled animal groups globally, with their decline causing significant ecosystem welfare impacts.
Freshwater mussel welfare intersects conservation urgency with genuine ecological importance. Their filter-feeding creates conditions that support diverse fish and invertebrate communities - mussel decline degrades habitat quality for many other species. The parasitic larval stage on fish hosts creates an unusual welfare consideration: glochidia attachment causes localized fish tissue reactions. While bivalve sentience evidence is limited, the cascading ecosystem effects of mussel loss create welfare harms for many definitively sentient fish and amphibian species that depend on clean, mussel-filtered water.