Field Guide

The elktoe is one of many Missouri mussels with a declining population.

Unlike their parasitic cousins in the flatworm group, turbellarians, or planarians, are tiny carnivores or detritus-eaters that glide smoothly across submerged leaves and other objects.

Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding invertebrates. They create colonies that can be mossy, branching, or round and jellylike.

The Arkansas brokenray only occurs in streams that flow south off of the Salem and Springfield plateaus, so it is found only in about the southern quarter of Missouri.

The calico crayfish is rather plain: gray-green with a pale central zone along the middle of the carapace and abdomen. The pincers are orange-tipped, and in mature males are tinged with purple. It is usually only found in the northern half of the state.

Like the pink heelsplitter and fragile and pink papershells, the bluefer uses freshwater drum as a host.

This endangered native mussel lives in flowing waters of large streams among gravel and cobble.

These diminutive mollusks are the smallest of Missouri’s freshwater mussels.

The plain pocketbook is one of the most common and widespread mussels in our state. It is oval, relatively large, and occurs frequently.