In recent times, the Russian malacologist Valeriy Zyuganov received worldwide reputation after he discovered that the pearl mussel exhibited negligible senescence and he determined that it had a maximum lifespan of 210–250 years.

The freshwater pearl mussel can be found on both sides of the Atlantic,[10] from the Arctic and temperate regions of western Russia, through Europe to northeastern North America.

[10] Clean gravel and sand is essential, particularly for juvenile freshwater pearl mussels, for if the stream or river bottom becomes clogged with silt, they cannot obtain oxygen and will die.

[10] Also essential is the presence of a healthy population of salmonids, a group of fish including salmon and trout, on which the freshwater pearl mussel relies for part of its life cycle.

The host of freshwater pearl mussel larvae are juvenile fish from the salmonid family, which includes the Atlantic salmon and sea trout.

[7] Attached to the substrate, juvenile freshwater pearl mussels typically burrow themselves completely into the sand or gravel, while adults are generally found with a third of their shell exposed.

[7] The freshwater pearl mussel grows extremely slowly,[12] inhaling water through exposed siphons, and filtering out tiny organic particles on which it feeds.

[7] Once the most abundant bivalve mollusc in ancient rivers around the world, numbers of the freshwater pearl mussel are now declining in all countries and this species is nearly extinct in many areas.

[40] The goal is to increase the freshwater pearl mussel population by 4,000 individuals and expand its range within the River Kent Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Freshwater pearl mussel" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.