[3] Originally assessed as endangered due to the existence of only two known Canadian populations,[3] the eastern pondmussel was placed on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act in 2013.

[4] However, a reassessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2017 identified seventeen additional subpopulations,[5] and the eastern pondmussel was relisted as "special concern" in August 2019.

[4] The population of the lower Great Lakes has limited diversity in certain mitochondrial genetic markers compared to those of the eastern seaboard's population, evidence of a founder effect and suggestive of a post-glacial arrival of Atlantic coast mussels to the Great Lakes by a restricted route.

[5]: 7 [6] The Walpole Island First Nation protects a population of eastern pondmussels residing in their tribal waters within the delta of Lake St.

[3]: 12 Like many Unionoid mussels, female eastern pondmussels display a lure to attract their fish hosts (see video, right).