Caddo Mussels

Caddo Lake's freshwater mussels are absolutely massive.
Back in the early 1900s, there was a "pearl rush" that brought with it tons of prospectors hoping to cash in on the lake's abundance of freshwater mussels. Prospectors would set up camp on the banks of the lake for months
and trudge on their hands and knees in low water foraging like pigs, which aptly gave them the name "Pearl Hogs." According to Texas Monthly, "A 1913 U.S. Bureau of Fisheries bulletin reported that in 1912, the value of pearls taken from both the Louisiana and Texas sides of the lake was $99,200. That is roughly equivalent to $1.9 million in today’s dollars." Some years later, a dam was built in Mooringsport, Louisiana which brought the water levels up and covered the mussel beds.
Consequently, the "rush" was short-lived; but mussels like these that Cap'n Danny Sullivan is pulling up from the lake floor are still only a shallow dive away from the surface.

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