Field Guide

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.

Among all the mussels of Missouri, this is perhaps the easiest to recognize: As the shell grows, large knobs are produced, first on one shell and then on the other, in an alternating pattern.

Sometimes called the blue-point, this mussel species is widely distributed in Missouri rivers and is occasionally found along reservoir margins.

A widespread mussel that releases its larvae in tiny red packages to attract fish hosts.

This favored habitat of this vulnerable species is large streams or rivers in firm sand and mud. The bumps on the shell may help to anchor it in the river bottom.