Five new mussel species found hiding in US rivers

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorResearchers have described five new species of freshwater mussel that were hiding in rivers across the southern United States, Mongabay reports.

2. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThey snorkeled for twenty years, feeling along muddy river bottoms. The shells looked like species we already knew, but the DNA said otherwise.

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorTwenty years of feeling around in mud, and the mussels never once said anything.

4. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorWhich is why BBN is proud to open the ceremony. Our Animal of the Day is the five new mussels, together, as a team.

5. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe title is Undefeated Hide-and-Seek Champions. Twenty seasons, no losses, and the opposing team had snorkels.

6. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe stat line: five species, twenty years undetected, and one hickorynut that tops out at two and a half inches. Elite numbers.

7. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorOne of them lives in about ten miles of the Big Black River in Mississippi. That's the whole address.

8. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorI'm sorry, I need a moment. A single mussel filters about a hundred seventy-five thousand gallons of water in its lifetime and asks for nothing.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThey never once asked for credit.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorFor the record, the mussels will not be attending the ceremony.

11. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThey've been avoiding being found for twenty years, and I'm not going to be the one to break their streak.