Philadelphia City Paper-12.15.10
CURATOR: Flexing Our Mussels
I could bitch about politics all day, but luckily there’s some good news on Art in the Age’s blog to distract me. We as a country have been polluting our waters over the years, killing off valuable members to our rivers’ ecosystems. The good news is that the Delaware River is actually bucking this trend. The alewife floater and tidewater mucket, two of the seven species of mussels found in the Delaware River, are alive and well. See, mussels are important because they act as water filters, gobbling up bacteria and other stuff that would likely leave you on the toilet if you came in contact with it. Because of the declining quality of America’s waters, mussel populations have been falling rapidly. Don’t get ahead of yourself, though, clean and cleaner are two very different words. Taking a big gulp of ship yard water still probably isn’t a good idea.
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Philadelphia City Paper, 12.15.10
