58 ' PEARLS AND .PEARLING 



to 2,500 glochidia have been known to attach them- 

 selves to the gills of one of these fish in forty minutes. 



The large mouth black bass is also well suited for some 

 glochidia. From 500 to 1,000 glochidia have attached 

 themselves to the gills of a black bass in twenty minutes. 

 A view of a rock bass infected with glochidia of Lampslis 

 ligamentinus may be seen in Figure 7. 



Small mouth black bass, crappie, yellow perch, roach 

 and blue gill sunfish are all very susceptible to infection 

 with glochidia, and the parasites generally attach to the 

 filaments of the gills. 



The German carp is different. The glochidia do not 

 attach to the gills, but 200 to 500 will attach to the fins 

 in about forty minutes. It will be observed that the life 

 of the mussel is not only a very interesting one, but also 

 one that is in almost constant danger. The many 

 changes that must be wrought throughout its life and the 

 many dangers which it must pass through tend to make 

 the life of a mussel a life of chance, and we wonder how 

 so many of them happen to reach maturity. 



