| Unionid embryos spend the first stage of development in the marsupial portion of the female unionid's gills, where they develop into glochidia, the parasitic stage. |
| At mussel refuges, the risk to introduce pathogens is compounded by the need for host fishes for glochidia transformation. |
| The mussel fauna, past, present, and future, of Sulfur Fork Creek and lower Red River, Tennessee, and laboratory transformation of glochidia. |
| Weather conditions prevented data collection in the spring and, therefore, no conclusions could be drawn about the relationship between aggregation and glochidia release. |
| Zygotes develop within the mantle cavity and glochidia larvae are released in the early summer. |
| While encysted, the glochidia will metamorphose, allowing the organs to develop more like an adult's organs. |
