Not that you’re interested, but did you know that some mussels have made the endangered species list? Two reasons: Mussels don’t go out actively searching for their food, so whatever comes to them comes in water that can be polluted. Mussels’ sessile nature also means that they need the water to circulate, and some stream-dwellers have found their water somewhat stagnant after the building of dams. But again, other than your wanting some mussels in your pasta or seafood soup, why should you be interested?
Although animals more mobile than mussels have also made the endangered species list, mussels present an analog for any of us who think we can “sit and wait” to change our lives. We can’t blame mussels for their passive lifestyles, but we can blame ourselves for “sitting and waiting.” Mussels are aquatic and, except for their early life cycle mobility attached to some fish as larvae, completely sessile. They don’t have a choice: They live a life—sometimes as much as a century—of sitting and waiting.
When we find ourselves inundated in a stagnant or polluted lifestyle, we can do what mussels can’t: Get out of the “water” and move. We have the muscles that mussels don’t. Not using those muscles means risking endangerment and possibly even extinction.
Although animals more mobile than mussels have also made the endangered species list, mussels present an analog for any of us who think we can “sit and wait” to change our lives. We can’t blame mussels for their passive lifestyles, but we can blame ourselves for “sitting and waiting.” Mussels are aquatic and, except for their early life cycle mobility attached to some fish as larvae, completely sessile. They don’t have a choice: They live a life—sometimes as much as a century—of sitting and waiting.
When we find ourselves inundated in a stagnant or polluted lifestyle, we can do what mussels can’t: Get out of the “water” and move. We have the muscles that mussels don’t. Not using those muscles means risking endangerment and possibly even extinction.
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