Question: What type of quality rivers do the Freshwater Pearl Mussels live in

Karen answered on 7 Nov 2018:

The freshwater pearl mussel likes to live in the cleanest possible rivers, they are really easily damaged by even small amounts of soil and pollution entering them in rivers. They are usually found in places where there are not a lot of buildings and roads, and there’s not a lot of farming and other land uses 🙂 In Ireland we would call very clean rivers Q5 or Q4, where as less clean rivers would be Q3, 2, or 1. Freshwater pearl mussels are usually found in Q5s or Q4s!