Physiological and ecological hosts of Popenaias popeii (Bivalvia: Unionidae): laboratory studies identify more hosts than field studies

1. Freshwater mussels are critically endangered in North America, making it important to understand their environmental requirements at all life stages. As glochidia (larvae), they attach to fish hosts where they undergo substantial mortality, making this transition important in their life cycle. Larval host fish requirements have typically been described using data from laboratory infestations to determine suitable hosts. 2. Laboratory infestations circumvent many natural barriers that prevent infestation of physiologically compatible fishes by mussel larvae. While such methods are invaluable for identifying ‘physiological hosts,’ they cannot fully describe realised ‘ecological hosts’ in the field. 3. We studied Popenaias popeii in the Black River in New Mexico, because it is of conservation concern and it is the only mussel species present, facilitating identification of glochidial infestation. To explore the difference between physiological hosts and ecological hosts, we conducted a 3‐year field study of fishes infested by P. popeii glochidia. 4. Substantially fewer fish species were infested by P. popeii in the wild (10 of 20 observed) than had been identified as physiological hosts in laboratory trials (24 of 31). We combined data on fish abundance, proportion of fish hosts infested (prevalence) and the number of glochidia per fish (intensity) and identified three fish species that probably contributed substantially more to mussel recruitment by carrying more glochidia than other host species. 5. Similarities in behaviour among these fishes allowed us to hypothesise routes of infestation, such as benthos‐feeding by catostomids, that allow glochidia to infest these hosts at higher rates than other suitable hosts. Overall, this approach provides a method of quantifying the relative importance of different species of host fish in the mussel lifecycle.