Hand-drawn river mussels in the book "River Mussels"
Southeast Network, April 12 (Fujian Daily reporter Li Yan) River mussels, we are very familiar with underwater creatures. Bai Juyi's poem: "Living in the silt is not dirty, the shell is soft and sports pearls", vividly describes the habits and images of river mussels.
Speaking of river mussels, everyone can recall some memories related to it, the childhood play with friends fishing for river mussels by the river, the classic artistic image in the stage play, and even the delicious taste of mussel meat...
But wouldn't you be surprised to tell you that river mussels are a species older than dinosaurs, a key indicator of river ecology, and an important part of maintaining a balanced biological chain in water? For the creature of the river mussel, we seem familiar with it, but in fact it is very strange. Recently, the Straits Publishing and Distribution Group Straits Book Company published the book "River Mussels", which tells readers the story of this biological partner that we are unfamiliar and familiar with.
Index of river ecological health
The author of the book "River Mussels" is Guo Liang, a naturalist in Fuzhou. Guo Liang grew up in Sanming, a place with mountains and water. He said that since he was a child, he has loved to get in touch with nature, observing insects, snakes, lizards, and so on. "The natural environment and biological species, all around us, are the most overlooked. For example, insects are the largest group of species on Earth and are the basic disk for maintaining ecological balance, but the average person does not know much about them. ”
In mid-2019, when a naturalist friend from Hubei came to visit Guo Liang, he talked to him about the river mussels in the Yangtze River Basin. Guo Liang then went to check various literature and materials to learn more about river mussels. Unexpectedly, this understanding seems to open up an unknown vast world.
The river mussel is an even older species than the dinosaurs, dating back to 2. 900 million years ago, in the Permian, river mussels appeared. Because of its unique way of living, it feeds on algae and microorganisms, so it has an indispensable role in maintaining the ecology of rivers.
"It can be said that although the river mussel is a very low-level species in the ecological environment, it is an important index of the ecological health of the river." Guo Liang said. What is particularly interesting is that the growth and development of river mussels depend on fish in the same water, and each kind of river mussel depends on different fish. Therefore, if there are many river mussels in a certain area of water and the variety is very rich, it can prove that the ecology of this water area is very good.
However, the river mussel species is extremely "fragile". Guo Liang said that once the river mussel species are reduced, it is difficult to recover, one is because it mainly lives in fresh water, the living environment is easily disturbed and destroyed; the second is that the feeding route of the river mussel has requirements for the depth of the sunlight to Hanoi, not too deep nor too shallow, too deep food is not enough, too shallow will attract natural enemies; third, its survival has requirements for the bottom of the riverbed, and in the sedimentary riverbed, the river mussel species are the most abundant.
In the process of understanding the river mussels, Guo Liang was deeply shocked: "Our most common 'thing' actually has such a wonderful story. So I want to record all this, let everyone know about the river mussels, and also call for the protection of the river mussels and nature. ”
102 species of river mussels in more than 20 provinces
China is one of the countries with the richest variety of river mussels in the world, and it is also one of the birthplaces of river mussels in the world. However, in the process of understanding the river mussels, Guo Liang found that the existing information about the river mussels was particularly small, and he could not even find a special book. Only the Frenchman H. P． Heude) did river mussel research in China more than 100 years ago, documented some species and published a book. However, limited to the conditions at that time, Han Bolu's classification of river mussels was not very strict, and many of them were repetitive.
In order to collect as much river mussel information as possible, Guo Liang went to many places, such as the Yangtze River Basin, the Border of Yunnan, and Xinjiang, and the harvest of field visits was very large. Miraculously, in the concept of the average person, Xinjiang is mostly Gobi, desert or grassland, and it is unlikely that there will be river mussels. But in fact, there are also river mussels in Xinjiang. "We found that in xinjiang's Irtysh River, the only river in China that flows to the Arctic Ocean, there are also river mussels. I recorded all of this in the book. Guo Liang said.
Fujian is one of the areas with rich river mussel species, there are about 18 species, common are dorsal horn chinese toothless mussel, folded crown mussel, Chinese pointed crest mussel, etc., mainly distributed in the Minjiang River Basin and jiulongjiang River basin. Regarding these, Guo Liang also focused on describing them in the book.
The content of "River Mussels" involves river mussels in more than 20 provinces across the country, of which 102 species are known, all 145 species. In addition to stating the basic characteristics of the species, the book also introduces the ecological habits, distribution and population status of river mussels, and also conducts in-depth discussions on similar and suspected species. What is valuable is that the book integrates the author's own observation and understanding of the species between the lines, which can be said to be suitable for professional researchers to read and reference, and also suitable for general museum enthusiasts and ordinary readers.
Thus, in the preface to the book, shellfish expert Wei Peng wrote: "What should a good picture book look like?" 'Figure' refers to the picture, which must be clear and can truthfully reflect the original appearance of the species; 'jian' refers to identification and review, that is, the selection of specimens is representative, which can fully reflect the basic characteristics of a species, and also have corresponding text to describe and compare. Obviously, this book not only strives for accurate knowledge points, but also takes into account the beauty of photos and typography, so that readers can enjoy beauty while acquiring knowledge. ”
Love and protect ecological "friends"
Data suggest that river mussel species have declined significantly across the globe since the last century.
Fortunately, in China, with the advancement of ecological construction, the whole society is paying more and more attention to river mussels, which is a good sign. According to media reports, at the end of last year, in order to control the water quality of the river, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, placed 200,000 river mussels in a river; in the Taiping National Wetland Park in Zoucheng City, Shandong Province, people raised river mussels to make the river water "alive" again.
After writing this book, Guo Liang introduced that next, he will continue to solve the problem of those unknown species of river mussels, and continue to look for unknown river mussels.
"River mussels are biological species that we often see, but do not know much about, and gradually drift away from us unconsciously. The purpose of drawing attention to them is to pay attention to our environment, to pay attention to nature. The relevant person in charge of the Straits Book Company said that this was their original intention to publish "River Mussels" and a series of ecological books.
In recent years, Straits Books has focused on building the "ecological publishing" brand, and since 2008, it has successively published ecological atlases such as "Chinese Bird Atlas" and "Chinese Butterfly Atlas", as well as popular science books such as "Collecting Insects as Specimens" and "The Mystery of Caterpillars Becoming Butterflies". At present, after completing about half of the terrestrial higher animal publishing layout, they have planned the "China Aquatic Publishing Project", planning to publish a series of marine-based aquatic animal atlases. "River Mussel" is the second book of aquatic animals in the Straits Book Company's "Ecological Publishing" series.
"In the next step, we also have the appreciation of aquatic animals in the southeast wetlands and the publication of books related to intertidal species. We have many mysterious creatures like river mussels around us, who have very wonderful stories, and together with us humans, we form the ecological ring of nature. We hope that through the publication of a series of ecological books, we can arouse everyone's awareness of biodiversity conservation and love and protect our nature. The relevant person in charge of the Straits Bookstore said.