The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently designated about 1,200 miles of stream as critical habitat for seven species of freshwater mussels protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service was required to complete this process under a settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity.

The critical habitat included eleven different areas along the northeast section of the Gulf of Mexico. According to the ESA, critical habitat is any geographic area containing “features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species that may require special management considerations or protection.”

For the seven snails, areas include the Econfina Creek drainage in Florida; the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River drainage in Alabama, Florida and Georgia; the Ochlockonee River drainage in Florida and Georgia; and the Suwannee River drainage in Florida.

The seven species of endangered mussels are the fat threeridge, shinyrayed pocketbook, Gulf moccasinshell, Ochlockonee moccasinshell, and oval pigtoe, and the threatened Chipola slabshell and purple bankclimber. As listed species under the ESA, the seven mussels are already protected wherever they occur.

Three of the mussels may have caught your eye in the news recently because of their habitation in the Apalachicola River below the Jim Woodruff Dam. The water flow from the dam is of special concern because of severe drought conditions in parts of the Southeast.