Decades ago, there were many mussels in many rivers and reservoirs in rural areas. Every time I come home from school, my friends will go diving in droves to catch them. However, because mussels live under mud and use pesticides frequently in the early stage, adults are worried that these mussels will store too many harmful substances. Many people basically feed them to chickens and ducks, but seldom eat them themselves. Because of this, it has long been said that mussels cannot be eaten. But now, in the same waters, we can hardly find mussels, just like the childhood of our generation, which is gone forever. Where are so many mussels in the river ditch? Is it extinct?

First of all, let's talk about whether mussels can be eaten. In fact, mussels are edible and have high nutritional value. They are rich in nutrients such as protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins and more riboflavin. They have a good health care effect on human body, and have the functions of nourishing yin, calming the liver, improving eyesight and preventing eye diseases. As a mollusk, mussels are pried open and have a lot of meat. If many people use it, they will take it out, rub it with salt a few times, wash the mucus clean, and then scrape off the humus. After this treatment, they can get white, thick and tender mussel meat, which can be boiled, stewed and boiled for people to enjoy. Earlier, many people went to the river to catch mussels and come back to eat them.

Second, however, mussels will taste a little fishy. Once undercooked, they will smell like fish, and the meat is difficult to chew. But even if everyone wants to eat it now, it may be hard to eat. Mussel, also known as mussel bird in the river bend, is a general term for LEPIDOPTERA mollusks. Mainly living in the bottom of freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and other waters, semi-buried in sediments, widely distributed all over the world. At present, there are more than 600 known species of mussels, and many people who have come into contact with mussels will think that their shapes are very similar, so they are from the same species by default. But in fact, the mussels you often see may be different species, but because the mussels of different species and their living environments are basically the same, they have serious convergence and evolution, and the appearance between species is very similar, which directly leads to the difficulty of mussel classification. It is understood that there are at least dozens of mussels in China, among which three are common: crowned mussels, domed mussels and toothless mussels.

Thirdly, there are two main reasons for the decrease of mussels in river ditches. One is the change of environment. With the use of pesticides, many rivers and ditches have been polluted. Many clear streams have turned into smelly ditches, and not only mussels, fish and shrimp have become scarce, and even ditches have disappeared in some places. Coupled with the influence of urbanization, many ditches have been filled and turned into farmland. Secondly, I wonder if you have noticed that the changes of water bodies in recent years are more serious than in the past. In the past, the water level near the village, whether it was a small box or a small pool, basically declined, and rarely directly dried up or cut off water. But now this situation is very common, and more and more wild water bodies have dried up, which directly affects the survival of mussels. Second, with the improvement of life, many foods that you want to eat can be bought in the market, and the safety problem may be more secure, so you don't need to go to the river to catch them yourself.