Loss of Freshwater Shellfish After Water Drawdown in Lake Sebasticook, Maine

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Abstract
Water drawdown to improve water quality of Lake Sebasticook, Maine, exposed virtually all mussel habitat and stranded freshwater mussels. Populations of adult (6- to 18-year-old) eastern elliptio (Elliptio complanata) and eastern lamp mussel (Lampsilis radiata), which had a combined density of 1.4 ± 0.4 m−2 in water 2 to 4 m deep, largely disappeared after drawdown. They survived only near the lake's inlet, and here the population declined from 1.9 m−2 to 0.14 m−2 in the following year. The movement rate of 1 to 16 mm min−1 of the elliptio would have allowed escape to open water as the water receded; however the movement was random.