Field Guide

Unlike most other freshwater mussels, this species is hermaphrodic: An individual mussel can be both male and female.

While the pimpleback is usually bumpy, some individuals are perfectly smooth.

Shaped like a checkered gunstock, with its unique, turned-down edge, pistolgrips are easy to identify.

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

This widespread species is one of the few Missouri mussels successful in shallow ponds and lakes.

Round pigtoes are more rounded than Wabash pigtoes. Usually, the nacre (the shell lining) is white, but in rare individuals it is bright pink.

Rarely seen, this endangered freshwater mussel has a thin and delicate shell that is strikingly beautiful inside.

The snuffbox has been classified as endangered in Missouri and is a candidate for federal endangered status. Perhaps it should also be a candidate for a new common name, since the popularity of snuff-taking is long past.

Nacre color varies from purple to pink to white. In smaller rivers, the shell is much thinner.

Missouri may have the largest number of spectaclecase mussels left in the world. These elongated shellfish can live for 60 years or more.