Hi Wildfish,
first I want to say sorry to everyone that I've taken this long to get back to all the people who replied to my "bump" of this thread. I probably should not have picked the very beginning of the semester to do it! At any rate, yes I would be happy to comment on what I know about the specifics of the endangered mussels of the area. It is illegal to possess federally endangered mussels. The only federally endangered mussel in NJ is the Dwarf Wedgemussel which is represented by one small population in Northwestern NJ. This is not an area anyone has offered to help me so I was not too worried about that issue (further since this is one of the "exception to the rule" native mussels that does not grow much over an inch - it was something I intended to be eliminated for consideration by my invasive species vs. native mussel tutorial). It is nearly extirpated in Pennsylvania (only possibly found in the very northeast corner of the state). As for the green floater, it is not federally endangered but considered endangered in New Jersey. And this is based on one single shell found in the Stony Brook area. It was considered extirpated until this one shell was found. The odds of a person finding that species even in Stony Brook is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. It is also one of the rare small species that grows only to about 1.5 inches. However, I would not ask you to collect around that area knowing it could theoretically be found. Also, I want to point out the difference between the intention of the species protection laws and the "letter" of the laws. The laws are designed to protect living species. They are not designed to prevent outdoorsman from picking empty clearly dead shells on the side of rivers, they are designed to prevent people from a) killing/disturbing or taking live species and b) trafficking found artifacts - in this case shells (that can't be proven to be taken live or dead) for profit. One actually is actually more likely to negatively effect a rare mussel population in a stream by fly fishing in the water where the mussel lives, then pick up a dead shell on the side of the river. However, in the former case there's no way to prove anything, and in the latter there is a physical artifact to debate. But the fact is, that the shells that are rare and protected are almost impossible to find just kicking around on the side of rivers. So I want to allay fears that this is at all likely. As a researcher, even I have trouble finding evidence of rare mussel species even knowing where they are known to occur and spending many hours specifically searching for them. But if I find anyone offers a endangered mussel to me, or even says they are going to look for them in an area where they occur, I do promise to prevent them from doing so. And again I want to emphasize, I do not want anyone to even disturb a live mussel. I am only interested in clearly spent shells. Thank you for having me clarify this. The last thing I would want would be to compromise people who are kind enough to help me!
-Take care, Kevin
