Mashrua Al Mahar:
Freshwater Bivalves of the Nile River, Egypt

Mashrua Al Mahar is a collaboration between Dr. Kohar Garo of Cairo University and the USA-NSF funded MUSSEL Project. The mission of this satellite project, based in Egypt, is to take a new look at the freshwater mussels of the Nile Basin. Our objectives are:

• Provide resources for the malacological community to facilitate taxonomic work on Nile (and other African) mollusks. This web page is just such a resource.
• Acquire new data through field work. Survey work will make it possible to assess the conservation status of Nile freshwater mussels, provide fresh material for morphogical and genetic studies, and help build a mollusk collection at Cairo University.
• Involve students in malacological research. The field of freshwater malacology is wide open in Egypt, and there is great potential for the next generation of students to make important contributions to the zoology of Egypt.
• Build collaboration between Egyptian and American researchers.

Mashrua Al Mahar is a new project initiated in March 2006. Watch this space for improvements!

Al Mahar News

• Another Nile Trip to Al Warak! "Mashrua Al Mahar group is back, fresh and enthusiastic as ever especially after our January Revolution!"
• 3rd Nile Trip to Qanater El Khayreya! "On Sunday 5 August 2007, Al Mahar team went to Qanater El Khayreya..."
• 2nd Nile Trip to Tanash! "On Wednesday, 7 February Al Mahar team went on their 2nd Nile trip to Tanash..."

Documents & Web Pages

• Checklist of the Freshwater Mussels of the Nile (and Northern Africa)
• "The early development of two unionoid bivalves from the River Nile, Egypt" by Kohar Garo.
• "Preliminary review of the freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) of northern Africa, with an emphasis on the Nile" by Graf & Cummings.

Important Links

• Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
• Egyptian German Society of Zoology