Field Guide

The bristly cave crayfish is a whitish crayfish with small, unpigmented eyes and long, slender pincers with noticeable setae (bristles). It lives in caves in the Springfield Plateau region of the Ozarks.

The Salem cave crayfish lives in caves in the Missouri Ozarks. Its localized distribution makes its populations vulnerable to catastrophes that might pollute or damage their cave environment.

The fatmucket was a favorite species harvested for the button industry in the early 1900s.

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 butterfly is one of the most beautiful of Missouri’s mussels.

A widespread mussel that relies on freshwater drum as host fish for the developing young.

When a floater dies, this large mussel with a thick shell will actually rise to the water surface and float as it decays.

The mapleleaf spawns in the summer, using catfish as a host.

Finding the monkey’s face in this mussel's shell is left up to the imagination.

One of the most widespread and numerous mussels in southern Missouri.