SHY mussels will get a little gentle encouragement when it comes to pulling this Valentine's Day.

The lonely, love-starved freshwater pearl mussel is fast disappearing from its stronghold in the North-East and is in serious danger of becoming extinct unless it starts mating.

The Environment Agency said the species was declining so much that solitary pearl mussels were being forced to live in empty beds.

Last year, the agency played matchmaker by moving some of the last remaining pearl mussels from the North Tyne to its Kielder fish hatchery in Northumberland.

In the more confined space of the hatchery, agency fisheries officers will again try to encourage the internationally-protected mussels to mate in more intimate surroundings.

Anne Lewis, a freshwater pearl mussel expert, said: "Pearl mussels have become so dispersed in the wild that they don't get the opportunity to meet that often.

"Even when they do, breeding is complicated and success can be hit and miss, with only one in ten thousand of the young surviving to adulthood."

If the Valentine's Day prompting fails to revive the mussels' love life in the region, the species will almost certainly become extinct south of the border.

The species can live up to the age of 100 and can be sexually active from about the age of 12.