{"id":616707,"date":"2026-09-06T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616707\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:34:10","slug":"rare-wildlife-found-in-georgia-after-going-more-than-10-years-with-no-sightings-wsb-tv-channel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616707\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare wildlife found in Georgia after going more than 10 years with no sightings \u2013 WSB-TV Channel 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

GEORGIA \u2014 After more than a decade of going unseen and nearly believed to be extinct, a rare freshwater species native to Georgia was seen out in the wild.<\/p>\n

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources confirmed that some of its researchers found specimens of the federally endangered Altamaha spinymussel.<\/p>\n

The spinymussel is distinctive for one of its more unique features, a set of four to six spines that grow out of its shell.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been on the endangered species list for a long while, but in mid-August, DNR reported one had been found in the Ocmulgee River.<\/p>\n

DNR Aquatics Biologist Zach Schumber was digging into the bottom of the Ocmulgee in early July when he felt a large mussel.<\/p>\n

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When he pulled it loose, DNR said Schumber \u201cnearly spit out his snorkel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his hands was an Altamaha spinymussel, a species that hadn\u2019t been seen since 2011. That same year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added it to the endangered list.<\/p>\n

When Schumber found the critter, it was popularly believed the species had already gone extinct.<\/p>\n

DNR said the species has been in decline since the late 1970s, for reasons that are still a mystery, according to DNR\u2019s Matt Rowe, who leads the Wildlife Conservation Section\u2019s Freshwater Biodiversity Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and pretty much everybody I talked with was about ready to call them extinct,\u201d Rowe said in an August publication by DNR.<\/p>\n

Channel 2 Action News reached out to state officials about the rare find, DNR said the species is only found in the Altamaha River Basin.<\/p>\n

That means it\u2019s found in Georgia \u201cand nowhere else on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there are 130 species of freshwater mussels in Georgia, and many of them rare, the Altamaha spinymussel is unique,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cIts shell has four to six spines up to an inch long, making it a very distinctive animal and a true symbol of Georgia\u2019s unique, but hidden, aquatic biodiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowe said the rediscovery of one of the spinymussels was \u201cheartening\u201d and helped wildlife officials hold on to \u201ca glimmer of hope\u201d that the species isn\u2019t beyond saving.<\/p>\n

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\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GEORGIA \u2014 After more than a decade of going unseen and nearly believed to be extinct, a rare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[261708,261711,261709,261710,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-616707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-altamaha-spinymussel","tag-endangered-species-list","tag-georgia-department-of-natural-resources","tag-georgia-dnr","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}