1,000 Mussels Brought To Vermilion River From Pennsylvania

Scientists have transported a group of endangered mussels from Pennsylvania to the Vermilion River.

The Champaign News-Gazette reports Monday that University of Illinois experts traveled to the Keystone State last week to retrieve 750 clubshell and 250 riffleshell mussels from the Allegheny River.

The mussels are part of a colony of as many as 200,000 animals that could be in jeopardy when a U.S. 62 bridge over the river in northwestern Pennsylvania is replaced in 2016.

A smaller batch was transferred in 2010 so U.S. officials gave permission for a larger switch.

Scientists with the Illinois Natural History Survey at the Prairie Research Institute of the U of I hope the mussels will thrive in their new home.