Malacology:
- the science dealing with the study of mollusks. [Dictionary.com]
Noted in “Mussel pain: The crisis engulfing our freshwater molluscs,” Jason Bittel, NewScientist (10 March 2018, paywall):
When the Wilson dam was built on the Tennessee river in Florence, Alabama, for example, it put the most diverse mussel bed on the planet under vast amounts of standing water, says Paul Johnson, a malacologist, or mollusc specialist, at the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center. Some of the 75 or so species in this area adapted and got on with their lives but more than half disappeared. And that is just one spot. There are similar stories all over the place, leading the US Geological Survey to declare freshwater mussels the most endangered group in the country.
