Mussel man
Posted: 12/30/2009
By Walt Reichert
Don't walk into Jim Hinkle's greenhouse looking for pansies or poinsettias. You'll find a few plants, but they play a supporting role.
The real stars of the show are 70 species of mollusks, or mussels, that are hunkered down in black tubs filled with sand and mud and supplied with running water drawn from Elkhorn Creek. Most of the mussels are federally endangered, and some so rare only one of a species has been found. Hinkle's job is to help with the cutting edge research and breeding efforts carried out by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources to bring rare mussels back from the brink of extinction.
Hinkle is the technician for the Center for Mollusk Conservation in Frankfort. He works with four biologists who are doing the painstaking work of breeding rare mussels and introducing them back into the wild.
"We've been able to reproduce species here that no one else in the world has been able to grow," Hinkle said.
Like summer
Hinkle's job requires him to be part plumber, part electrician and part carpenter. Hinkle has been with Fish & Wildlife for 10 years, most of that time with the Fisheries Division but for the last two with the Center for Mollusk Conservation.
Hinkle's job has been to work with the center's biologists to design and build nurseries where the rare mussels, some with exotic names like Pink Mucket and Purple Cats Paw, can survive and eventually reproduce. Some of the mussels are larger than a fist; others are no bigger than a quarter.
In the greenhouse, Hinkle has set up a network of black vats filled with sand and dirt in imitation of the river bottoms where the mussels live in the wild. Hinkle designed a set of pipes that bring water from Elkhorn Creek into the greenhouse, circulate it through plants' roots, which help purify the water that then flows into the vats and back out to the creek.
"Most mollusk species prefer moving water," Hinkle said.
Computers monitor the temperature in the greenhouse and either turn heaters on if it gets too cold or open vents if it gets too warm. Mussels can survive in cold temperatures, Hinkle explained, but the warmer water and temperatures boost their growth and reproductive activity.
"We want to keep it like summertime," he said.
The system works.
In one vat, a female mussel has opened her shell and offers a lure to a wandering fish. But when the fish investigates the bait, momma mussel will blast him with her larvae that will live as parasites on its gills for about 10 days before dropping off and growing shells. In other words, in their strange way, the mussels are making babies.
And in another vat, juvenile mussels that have grown to about quarter size gather in a cage; a tiny black number attached to each shell identifies the species.
Hinkle also builds and maintains aquariums that contain the fish that play host to the mussel larvae. The aquariums are kept in the "fish house" that also is home to a network of gurgling water jugs through which water flows and produces the algae that feed the mussels.
Conservation
While efforts to save mollusks do not normally make a splash in the media -- mussels are slower than cheetahs and not near as cuddly looking as polar bears -- the work at the Center for Mollusk Conservation is environmentally critical, said Dr. Jacob Culp, one of the biologists at the center.
"Mollusks are the most endangered animal species in the world," he said.
Pollution and loss of habitat to dam building have eliminated many species of mussels in Kentucky and elsewhere. Mussels are extremely sensitive to water pollution, and many species have perished when rivers and streams became too polluted for their survival. In fact, mussels serve as a sort of early warning system for water quality. If mussels cannot survive in a stream, the water is likely becoming unfit for humans also, Culp said.
Mussels also filter out pollutants from the water, he said.
Fortunately, many of the rivers and streams that formerly held mussel populations are cleaner than they were years ago, and reintroductions of juveniles grown at the Center for Mollusk Conservation have been successful. The center's biologists have done follow-ups on releases and found the rare mussels living and breeding in streams where they were previously exterminated. Guist Creek Lake in Shelby County was one of the release sites.
"We keep track of them and once we find they are reproducing, we feel they are going to do all right," Culp said.
Retired from IBM in Lexington and now living in Waddy with his wife, Ruth, Hinkle said he is enjoying his second career working with the humble mussel.
"It's exciting to be part of research that is pushing the envelope," Hinkle said. "Some of what we're doing here is being done nowhere else in the world."
The real stars of the show are 70 species of mollusks, or mussels, that are hunkered down in black tubs filled with sand and mud and supplied with running water drawn from Elkhorn Creek. Most of the mussels are federally endangered, and some so rare only one of a species has been found. Hinkle's job is to help with the cutting edge research and breeding efforts carried out by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources to bring rare mussels back from the brink of extinction.
Hinkle is the technician for the Center for Mollusk Conservation in Frankfort. He works with four biologists who are doing the painstaking work of breeding rare mussels and introducing them back into the wild.
"We've been able to reproduce species here that no one else in the world has been able to grow," Hinkle said.
Like summer
Hinkle's job requires him to be part plumber, part electrician and part carpenter. Hinkle has been with Fish & Wildlife for 10 years, most of that time with the Fisheries Division but for the last two with the Center for Mollusk Conservation.
Hinkle's job has been to work with the center's biologists to design and build nurseries where the rare mussels, some with exotic names like Pink Mucket and Purple Cats Paw, can survive and eventually reproduce. Some of the mussels are larger than a fist; others are no bigger than a quarter.
In the greenhouse, Hinkle has set up a network of black vats filled with sand and dirt in imitation of the river bottoms where the mussels live in the wild. Hinkle designed a set of pipes that bring water from Elkhorn Creek into the greenhouse, circulate it through plants' roots, which help purify the water that then flows into the vats and back out to the creek.
"Most mollusk species prefer moving water," Hinkle said.
Computers monitor the temperature in the greenhouse and either turn heaters on if it gets too cold or open vents if it gets too warm. Mussels can survive in cold temperatures, Hinkle explained, but the warmer water and temperatures boost their growth and reproductive activity.
"We want to keep it like summertime," he said.
The system works.
In one vat, a female mussel has opened her shell and offers a lure to a wandering fish. But when the fish investigates the bait, momma mussel will blast him with her larvae that will live as parasites on its gills for about 10 days before dropping off and growing shells. In other words, in their strange way, the mussels are making babies.
And in another vat, juvenile mussels that have grown to about quarter size gather in a cage; a tiny black number attached to each shell identifies the species.
Hinkle also builds and maintains aquariums that contain the fish that play host to the mussel larvae. The aquariums are kept in the "fish house" that also is home to a network of gurgling water jugs through which water flows and produces the algae that feed the mussels.
Conservation
While efforts to save mollusks do not normally make a splash in the media -- mussels are slower than cheetahs and not near as cuddly looking as polar bears -- the work at the Center for Mollusk Conservation is environmentally critical, said Dr. Jacob Culp, one of the biologists at the center.
"Mollusks are the most endangered animal species in the world," he said.
Pollution and loss of habitat to dam building have eliminated many species of mussels in Kentucky and elsewhere. Mussels are extremely sensitive to water pollution, and many species have perished when rivers and streams became too polluted for their survival. In fact, mussels serve as a sort of early warning system for water quality. If mussels cannot survive in a stream, the water is likely becoming unfit for humans also, Culp said.
Mussels also filter out pollutants from the water, he said.
Fortunately, many of the rivers and streams that formerly held mussel populations are cleaner than they were years ago, and reintroductions of juveniles grown at the Center for Mollusk Conservation have been successful. The center's biologists have done follow-ups on releases and found the rare mussels living and breeding in streams where they were previously exterminated. Guist Creek Lake in Shelby County was one of the release sites.
"We keep track of them and once we find they are reproducing, we feel they are going to do all right," Culp said.
Retired from IBM in Lexington and now living in Waddy with his wife, Ruth, Hinkle said he is enjoying his second career working with the humble mussel.
"It's exciting to be part of research that is pushing the envelope," Hinkle said. "Some of what we're doing here is being done nowhere else in the world."
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