Wildlife workers are reintroducing three rare species of freshwater mussels into the Tennessee Valley region.
A species of mussel called the Pale Lilliput is being stocked Wednesday in the Duck River in central Tennessee. The federally endangered species now lives only in a 4-mile section of the Paint Rock River in northeast Alabama.
More than 800 of the mussels were cultured at the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center near Marion.
Officials also are stocking two types of mussels known as the Duck River Dartersnapper and the Alabama Lampmussel in Bear Creek in Colbert County on Thursday. Both of those species also are endangered.
Officials say dam construction, pollution and poor land-use practices hurt mussel habitat.
The shelled animals feed by filtering water and are important in rivers.
