merrion street

Thursday October 31st 2013 The fourth in the series of seven Illustrated Autumn Talks as announced by Jimmy Deenihan T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht earlier this month will take place in the Killarney Plaza Hotel at 8pm.

Tonight’s talk will be given by Institute of Technology Tralee lecturer Eugene Ross on the Freshwater Pearl Mussel, their biology, status and prospects in Ireland.

Taking place once a week between now and Friday 22 November these talks report on a range of interesting topics.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s talk Minister Deenihan said "The Freshwater Pearl Mussel is recognised as critically endangered in Ireland. 90% of all freshwater pearl mussels are known to have died out across Europe during the twentieth century but I am delighted to say that the freshwater pearl mussel is among the extensive list of invertebrate animals found in Killarney National Park. I encourage people to attend these talks, and to take the opportunity to learn about our environment and history.”

Note for Editors:

These illustrated talks start at 8 p.m. and admission is free.

Eugene Ross

Studied Zoology in University College Galway and completed M.Sc. (’84) and Ph.D. (’88) on the distribution, ecology and reproductive biology of three Irish species of freshwater mussels (swan mussels, duck mussels and pearl mussels). He is a lecturer in Institute of Technology Tralee since 1987, in Biology, Aquaculture and Wildlife Biology and runs a consultancy in pearl mussel surveying and conservation assessments.

For more information see http://www.npws.ie/events/name,15230,en.html