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Exportation of freshwater mussels for the use in the Japanese cultured pearl industry has supported the North American freshwater mussel fisheries since the late 1950s. The mother of pearl (or nacre) from exported freshwater mussels are used to make a bead nucleus which is placed in a living animal to form a pearl. In the 1990s, the United ...
The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Margaritiferidae.. Although the name "freshwater pearl mussel" is often used for this species, other freshwater mussel species (e.g. Margaritifera auricularia) can also create pearls and some can also be used as a source of mother of pearl.
Margaritiferidae is a family of medium-sized freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the order Unionida. [1] [2] It is the most threatened of all unionid families.[3]The family is sometimes referred to as the freshwater pearl mussel family, [4] but "freshwater pearl mussel" more often applies to the species Margaritifera margaritifera.
Unionidae burrow into the substrate, with their posterior margins exposed. They pump water through the incurrent aperture, obtaining oxygen and food. They remove phytoplankton and zooplankton, as well as suspended bacteria, fungal spores, and dissolved organic matter.
Margaritifera margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758) — Freshwater pearl mussel (includes Margaritifera margaritifera durrovensis Phillips, 1928) Margaritifera marrianae R. I. Johnson, 1983; The following fossil species are known from the mid-Cretaceous of Mongolia, being formerly classified in the genus Unio: [2] †Margaritifera elongata (Martinson ...
The western pearlshell (Margaritifera falcata) is a species of freshwater bivalve, a pearl mussel, a bivalve mollusk in the family Margaritiferidae. This species can be found only in the United States and Canada, where it occurs mostly west of the Rocky Mountains .
Lampsilis abrupta, the pink mucket or pink mucket pearly mussel, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. This species is endemic to the United States .
It is notably larger than other freshwater mussel species in its range and can measure just over 100mm in shell length. [3] Males are slightly larger in most bodily measurements than females. In Frierson's original species description, he reported the shell lengths of males and females as 93mm and 86mm respectively; and the male and female ...