Mobilizing millions of marine mollusks

The museum has teamed up with scientists at several major museums and universities for a $2.3 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to digitize data for more than 4.5 million marine mollusk specimens such as mussels, oysters, clams, and snails collected along the Eastern seaboard from the U.S.-Canada border to U.S.-Mexico border.

The project, Mobilizing Millions of Marine Mollusks of the Eastern Seaboard, will have a world-wide impact on biodiversity documentation and study by making data from these ecologically and commercially important species available through online portals. Previous digitization projects have focused on freshwater and land mollusks; this is the first major project of this type for marine mollusks.

The Field Museum of Natural History is the lead (principal investigator) for the project. Other collaborating institutions include the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, University of Florida, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, and North Carolina State Museum.