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@joelsartoreofficial

Joel Sartore

You’re looking at one of the most amazing and ingenious reproduction strategies in the entire animal kingdom. This female pocketbook mussel is using her own flesh to create a minnow-like lure to get a large stream fish to bite her, which then releases clouds of her microscopic babies into the water. Once launched into the stream, the larval young attempt to latch onto the fish’s gills and fins, then ride around awhile before falling off, dropping into the gravel of the streambed. Once settled, the larvae will begin to transform into juvenile mussels. Since adult mussels can’t travel, this elaborate process is how this kind of animal spreads its young upstream. #mussel #lure #pocketbook #video #wildlife #PhotoArk

On the profile · Mar 7, 2023